


There's Death in this Dirt

by mismatched_ideas



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, BadAss!Minami, Brotherly Love, Gen, Genius!Yuri, Guns, M/M, Military, Pilot!Otabek, Post-Apocalypse, Road Trips, Wasteland AU, dangerous road trips, family au, gunfight, the otayuri is secondary to this plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-29
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-06 17:33:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 31,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12215550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mismatched_ideas/pseuds/mismatched_ideas
Summary: It's been over a hundred years since The Others War nearly ended the world, leaving the previously green country of Aceel a veritable wasteland. But Aceel survived and had found a way to survive.Yuri Plisetsky-Katsuki is itching to leave his small town on the edges of the unexplored Wastes, wanting to do the work he knew was his calling. But he was fifteen and The Captial Complex was a more than five days drive away so, for now, he would have to be content living a boring life with a family he loved.At least until a strange young man with an important mission comes blazing quietly into his life.





	1. A Shooting Star

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really excited to start posting this AU! It's about 3/4 written right now (not including editing) but I'll still be posting twice a week on MF. I might go up to MWF because I do want to get this posted in a semi-timely manner but it'll depend a lot on editing and when I'm working. 
> 
> The chapter count will probably be 13 chapters but I'm not sure yet, so I'm going to leave it as a question mark for now.

“For the last time, you can’t go to the capital! You’re fifteen!”

“I’m almost sixteen!” The short blond pointed out to the tired-looking man with black hair. “And I’ll be sixteen by the time I’d be going!”

“That doesn’t make it better.” The third man, a lighter haired man, sighed. “Yura… I know you want to go to Kaila but it’s too dangerous.”

“Then one of you can take me!” This wasn’t the first time the three of them had this argument and it probably wouldn’t be the last. “I know it’s not perfect yet, but this could save us all.”

Before the argument could continue, the front door opened and a blond young man appeared. “I’m home!”

“Kenjirou!” The darker haired man smiled and the older blond looked relieved to be allowed to end this conversation. “I didn’t think you’d already be home.”

“Things ended sooner than expected.” Kenjirou walked over to hug the two older men before ruffling Yuri’s hair, which just made the young blond bristle.

“Hey baby bro, have you been causing trouble while I was gone?”

Kenjirou Minami-Katsuki was a nineteen-year-old who had a job with The Caravaneers. Past that, Yuri had no idea what his older brother did. Kenjirou would leave for long stretches of time with the caravans but he’d also sometimes leave for stretches of time when there were no caravans leaving. Yuri suspected that his dads knew about Kenjirou’s job but they either thought Yuri was too young to know what it was or was somehow trying to protect him. 

In the same vein, Yuri also didn’t know what his dads did. They didn’t go to a job every day but they still got paid every month. He thought Viktor did something with the Caravaneers but even that he wasn’t sure of since most work with Caravaneers involved moving with the Caravans. Viktor had used a wheelchair since he was a child and Yuri wasn’t sure whether the Caravaneers would be accommodating to something like that. He had no clue what his other dad, Yuuri, did. With his high levels of anxiety, Yuri didn’t think he could be in any sort of high-stress job.

His family was a bit of a mystery to him and he loved them even if they refused to let him go to Kaila to show the city his invention.

Yuri had a knack for technology and he’d figured out how to, on a small scale, reinvigorate the wasteland they lived in. After raiders had taken their food and destroyed their crops, Yuri had been able to reinvigorate enough wasteland with his invention to keep them alive until they could fix their hydroponics system.

The thing was, Yuri knew it worked. Not one hundred percent of the time, but enough. And the dome of effect was tiny but he knew how to make the dome bigger. Except when he did that, even with a huge amount of power, he’d never gotten the reinvigoration to work. The invention took insane amounts of energy to even reinvigorate small areas and so it was a little impractical but he knew that if he could get to Kaila, the science city of The Capital Complex, he would get the funding and the tech he needed to fix it. He could make the bigger dome, he knew how to do that, he just needed to minimize the power usage and increase the actual reinvigoration.

He just needed to convince his dads to let him go to Kaila.

“I’m not a baby.” Yuri told his brother, “And I haven’t caused any trouble.”

“He just wants to go to the capital,” Viktor said. “By himself.”

“I’d be going with a caravan, it’s not like I’d be on the road by myself.”

“Yuri.” Yuuri put on his most parental tone. “We live too far away from the capital for the trip to be anything other than extremely dangerous, with or without a caravan. Those roads are rife with bandits and raiders and we’re not going to let a fifteen-year-old join a caravan!”

“But this is important!” Yuri shouted, standing up. He hated being told what to do, especially when he was trying to do the right thing. “The science academy has ignored my messages but if I’m just there, in the city, then I can convince them–”

“You are fifteen.” Viktor snapped, surprising Yuri. His papa didn’t usually get upset. “They aren’t going to listen to you. When you’re eighteen you’ll go to the science academy as a student. Then you can show them what you can make.”

“But this is revolutionary.” Yuri didn’t understand why his dads couldn’t see how important this was. “It could save lives. It could save the world.”

He saw Yuuri give Viktor a look, seeming to tell him to calm down. Yuuri was usually the more serious one of his dads but he was also the calmer one. He was always the one to calm people down in the family, even though Yuri had seen him break down before. 

It was pretty shocking, as a five-year-old, to see your dad in that kind of state. Viktor had done his best to take care of his husband, but in the end they’d had to travel to the capital to get Yuuri medical help. Kenjirou and Yuri had to stay with Aunt Yuuko and Uncle Tadashi, along with their baby triplets. At the time, Yuri had been pretty attached to both his parents, especially Yuuri, and was going through a bit of an ‘abandonment issues’ stage. But, in the end, Yuuri and Viktor had returned and Yuuri had been… better. He had pills now and Yuri knew his dads were always worried the supply would disappear and they’d have to make the trip to The Capital, not just another time, but at least once a year.

Yuri knew his dads were afraid of the trip to and from The Capital but he couldn’t understand why. If the trip scared them so much, and most people living here had to make it a few times in their lives, Yuri didn’t understand why they’d decided to settle in the farthest reaches of their country. They’d chosen a walled city at the edge of the outer region butting up against the true wastes, where only bandits and raiders lived. There’s was the city farthest into the wasteland and the closest to their enemies over the mountains.

If you headed north from Yuri’s hometown, you wouldn’t hit a place with water until you got across the mountains and found The Others.

Of course, that was basically an impossible trip which was how the war with The Others had stagnated to mostly threats of bombs that would spread the wastes. Everyone knew that the technology to cause wastelands to form, as well as bombs long-ranged enough to reach across the mountains, had been lost when the first bombs dropped. Nobody was that worried about those threats, at least no more than people were worried every day of their lives.

“Yuri…” Kenjirou put a hand on Yuri’s shoulder. “Listen to them.”

“Not you too.” Yuri stood, glaring at his entire family before storming upstairs. “You’re all the worst!”

Yuuri and Viktor shared a look and then a sigh, hoping Yuri’s restlessness would pass. But they had known his parents and if he was anything like them, Yuri could never be tied down. Soon they wouldn’t be able to stop him from leaving home to make the dangerous journey to The Capital Complex.

“So, Kenjirou.” Yuuri turned to smile at their older son, “Tell us about work.”

\---

Yuri liked to climb out of his window and sit on the roof of their house when he couldn’t sleep.

He often couldn’t sleep, his mind too restless for that.

Yuri craved something bigger than what he had now. School bored him, if he’d been allowed to then he would have tested out of his last two years and a half years. He’d just finished his first term of his second year of high school and he’d been hoping his dads would let him go to the capital when the next caravan left at the beginning of summer break. He invented his wasteland reinvigorater three years ago and he hadn’t made any progress since. He’d helped his small city, it really couldn’t be called a city, survive a famine that could have killed most of their population two years before so he knew it worked. He just needed to money and the technology to make it better.

Kaila had both of those things.

Yuri sighed, about to go inside to try and get some sleep when he saw a quick streak of light in the wastes not far from their city. It was just a quick flash but it was enough to peek Yuri’s interest.

He had no clue what that had been but his dads had a car and everyone in his family was a heavy sleeper.

Yuri was going to find out what that had been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My only note for this chapter is that I know my talking about Viktor being in a wheelchair might seem like a second thought but I have a backstory in mind for all these characters but this is about Yuri more than anyone else. I'm hoping to write a prequel after this about how Viktor and Yuuri met and maybe about their lives before they met so I'd talk more about it then! 
> 
> I hope there wasn't too much exposition in this chapter (and same with the next chapter) but there is a lot to set up X__X
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	2. Rough Landings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuri didn’t think a lot of things through that weren’t related to his inventions. Some people might point out that dragging a strange pilot out of what could be an enemy plane was a bad idea but Yuri was almost sixteen and he knew what he was doing.

When Yuri was thirteen, almost fourteen, he tried to convince his dads to teach him to drive. He told them it was important, they lived in a pretty scary world and what if he needed to drive somewhere? They’d refused, saying he could learn when he was sixteen like everyone else. He could still hear them saying something about fighting for a world where kids don’t need to learn how to drive.

Yuri was annoyed because that had just been an excuse. In reality, he just wanted to know how to drive. 

And so he taught himself the basics. He was doing pretty well, sneaking out at night and getting neighbors to lend him cars through a clever bartering system. But for as careful as he was, his brother was smarter. He figured out what Yuri was doing pretty quickly and so he took it upon himself to teach Yuri to drive. Kenjirou knew there was no stopping Yuri from teaching himself, so this seemed like the best solution. Kenjirou was still in school at the time, he’d be graduating soon but still didn’t have any idea of what he was going to do afterward. Yuri suspected Kenjirou just wanted something to keep his mind off of his lack of direction.

The other thing that Kenjirou, inadvertently, taught Yuri was how to better sneak out of their house.

Which was how he was able to take their family car without waking anyone up. This wasn’t the first time he’d taken the car, he often went out to the wastes at night to test new tech, but this would be the farthest out he’d ever gone. He was driving straight into the wastes, towards the mountains, so he hoped nobody would bother him. Bandits and raiders usually ignored people who seemed to be insane like Yuri would surely appear.

\---

It didn’t take Yuri long to find what had great that streak of light.

He stopped the car a bit away from the wreck of some sort of plane. It didn’t look like the fighter jets Yuri had seen models of and he wondered if it was one of The Others’ planes.

Without thinking, he pulled out a flashlight and started looking around the plane. He could tell nobody had left the plane but the glass where the pilot should be was tinted so he couldn’t see inside. Feeling brave, or foolish, he clambered up to the cockpit and looked around for a way to open it. When he finally found a way to get in, he saw there was a pilot laying motionless in the plane.

Yuri didn’t think a lot of things through that weren’t related to his inventions. Some people might point out that dragging a strange pilot out of what could be an enemy plane was a bad idea but Yuri was almost sixteen and he knew what he was doing.

“Hello?” He said once he got the pilot out of the wreck. “Can you hear me?”

The pilot stirred a little but didn’t say anything so Yuri worked at pulling their mask off. When they did they were met with an attractive young man who looked like he wasn’t much older than Yuri. His dark hair was styled in an undercut that looked like it could do with a trim. For a moment Yuri worried he might be dead but then he stirred again and dark eyes fluttered open.

“Are you okay?” Yuri asked. “Where are you from?”

The young man looked like he was going to say something but shut his mouth, seeming to swallow his words.

“Lieutenant Otabek Altin,” He finally said, his voice deeper than Yuri expected. “Serial number 10229761.”

“Wha–?” Yuri blinked at the young man before he realized what was happening. “Oh, no, I’m not going to hurt you.”

The pilot, Otabek, repeated the same words and Yuri was starting to get frustrated.

“Stop, I’m not the enemy.” While trying to figure out how to get the man’s helmet off, he’d seen a patch that marked him as a pilot of Twaight, the capital city where the military was based. “You’re from Aceel, right? You’re okay, you’re home.”

The young man stared at Yuri for a long time before he sighed, “Where am I?”

“In the wastes outside of Kita.”

“I don’t know that city.”

“It’s the farthest north you can get in Aceel.” Yuri tilted his head to the side, “Were you over the mountains?”

Otabek didn’t respond to Yuri’s question, “I need to get back to Twaight.”

He tried to sit up but flinched, groaning as he held loosely to his chest.

“You might have broken something.” Yuri told him, “That was a bit of a bad landing.”

“I didn’t hit that hard.” Otabek countered.

“You still crashed.” Yuri pulled Otabek’s arm around his shoulders, helping him into a standing position. “Let’s get you to the car.”

“Thank you…” Yuri was struck by the fact that even though Otabek was taller than him, most people were, he wasn’t all that tall. “What’s your name?”

“Yuri Plisetsky-Katsuki, from Kita.”

“Otabek Altin.” He repeated, feeling like his previous introduction had been lacking the politeness his parents always reprimanded him for forgetting. “I’m from Twaight.”

Yuri helped Otabek into the car, buckling him in before taking his place in the driver’s seat.

“Aren’t you a little young to be driving?” Otabek looked a little concerned.

“Aren’t you a little young to be a pilot,” Yuri countered before flashing him a smile. “No need to worry.”

Otabek wasn’t sure he believed this stranger but it wasn’t like he had much of a choice. He repeated a quick prayer to a god he didn’t believe in, then grabbed tightly to the door handle.

“Well, let’s go.”


	3. Good Intentions Don't Mean Good Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuri had a plan to get both of them to The Captial Complex.

“How tall are you?” Yuri asked, trying to decide if Otabek was the same height as Kenjirou. “Like 5’6”?”

“Yah.”

“Okay, you’re the same height as my brother. I’m going to go get you something else to wear then I’ll check your ribs.”

“What?” Otabek blinked at Yuri from where he was resting on the blond’s bed. 

“I need to make sure you didn’t break a rib.”

“Are you trained in first aid?” Otabek looked uncertain. “Aren’t you, like, fourteen.”

“Fuck you, I’m sixteen!” Otabek raised an eyebrow, “Fine, fifteen, but I’m almost sixteen. What about you? You look like you’re twelve.”

“I do not.” He crossed his arms. “I’m twenty.” This time it was Yuri’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “I mean, that’s what my records say.”

“Did you lie about your age to the government?” Yuri gaped at him. “How did you even trick them?”

“I had a friend who was good at forging identities.” Otabek scowled, “I was fifteen but you have to be eighteen to join the military.”

“So you’re... seventeen?” Otabek nodded and Yuri sighed dramatically, “That’s so cool! I wish I could have someone forge my documents. School’s a bore and I just want to go Kaila.” 

“Kaila, really?” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Otabek blushed a little, “Sorry, I wasn’t trying to insult you. I just meant because you look more like a dancer so I thought you’d be heading to Owea.” 

“No, never.” Yuri turned to go see if there were any clothes of Kenjirou’s in the dryer. “Be quiet while I’m gone. My family’s all heavy sleepers but we should still be careful.” 

“Okay.” 

\---

Luckily, there had been sweatpants and a shirt in the dryer so Yuri was able to find Otabek clean clothes to wear. Unfortunately, they were not Kenjirou’s.

“These are my dad’s so they’ll be a little big.” Yuri said, “put the sweatpants on but wait with the shirt.”

“What?” Otabek sputtered, looking embarrassed. 

“Not like that, idiot!” Yuri felt himself blushing. “Remember, your ribs?” 

“Oh, yah.” Otabek stood with the help of Yuri, “Can you turn around?”

“What the hell, man?” Yuri sighed. “Well, I should get you some painkillers anyways. For a military guy, you’re pretty shy.”

Otabek grumbled something about stripping in front of strangers and Yuri only rolled his eyes, heading to the bathroom to find some painkillers. When he returned with some water and two pills, Otabek was sitting on the edge of the bed. He looked incredibly uncomfortable not wearing a shirt and Yuri did his best not to stare but, well, it was hard not to because… well, he was in good shape. 

“Okay, how’s breathing?” Yuri asked, handing Otabek the water and painkillers. “Is it hard?”

“Not really. It hurts a little, but it’s not difficult.” 

“I’m going to touch, okay?” Otabek nodded, doing his best not to swallow and give Yuri the wrong idea. “Tell me where it hurts.”

Otabek did as he was told and it didn’t take long for Yuri to step back, “I think it’s just bruised ribs, which is good. If they were broken that would be a problem. I’ll get you some ice… You can put the shirt on now.” 

When Yuri returned with ice, he’d thought of something else. “Did you lost consciousness when you crashed? You had your eyes closed when I pulled you out.”

“I don’t think so.” He accepted the ice and place it gingerly on the tender areas of his chest. “I remember crashing and I remember you pulling me out then taking off my helmet.” 

“Any dizziness?” He shook his head, “You don’t seem to be concussed but we’ll have to keep an eye on that.”

“We?” 

“You’re going to Twaight, aren’t you?” Otabek nodded, “Well, you can’t go alone in this state so I’m coming with you.”

“No way.” 

“But–”

“You're fifteen!”

“Fuck you, you have no right.” Yuri wasn’t going to be told no by a kid who joined the air force when he was fifteen. “How do you plan to get there yourself?”

“I’ll join the next caravan heading to the capital.” 

“You really think you can go by yourself?” Yuri crossed his arms. “You’ll need someone from Kita to vouch for you.”

“I’ll just call my CO!” Otabek had the feeling he wasn’t going to win this fight even though there was no reason for him to take a stranger with him to The Capital Complex. “He’ll send someone out to meet me.”

Yuri smirked, “Too bad the February caravan already left and the next caravan doesn’t leave until May.” 

“May!” Otabek look defeated. “Where the hell am I? How can you guys survive that long without help from The Capital?” 

“You know the city Northpass?” He nodded. “What about Ashborne?” Another nod. “Then farther north is Alolk, the first city built past the so-called ‘outer region line’?”

“I don’t see your point here.” Otabek looked a bit annoyed but he didn’t want to admit he didn’t think he had ever heard of Alolk.

“Do you know The Velts?” Otabek nodded slowly, he was pretty sure he knew those cities. “We’re even farther north than that. A long time ago, at the end of the exploration and settlement period a caravan headed north, trying to find the farthest point with water and that how they found this place. We have three hydroponics setups to keep us alive. We’re the closest to a self-sufficient city anyone has gotten.”

“That sounds dangerous.” Otabek couldn’t imagine living like that. He was from The Capital Complex so he didn’t even rely on The Capital for food, instead getting their food from the city of Starrymill. 

Yuri shrugged, “It can be. A couple years ago we had a really bad raider attack and we nearly starved.” 

“How’d you survived?”

Yuri smiled because now he had Otabek cornered. He’d already won this argument because now Otabek wouldn’t be able to argue with Yuri that he needed to get to Kaila. 

“I have invented a piece of technology that can reinvigorate small areas of wasteland.” Otabek blinked at Yuri. “We now have a small patch of fertile land behind our house. It wasn’t much but we’re a small community so, in addition to our hidden stores, we were able to survive until a caravan arrived. Until last year we hadn’t been set up with communication lines so back then the only way for us to get messages to The Capital was to send them through caravans.”

Yuri knew that there had been plans in the works to start moving people out of Kita before the next caravan. It would be even more dangerous than moving with a normal caravan because they wouldn’t have the normal number of official Protectors and there was no official Router set up in Kita at the time. Yuri had heard rumors of there being retired Protectors and a retired Router in town who would have been the ones to do all the work. Except there was only so much Routers could do with the paper maps they had, which weren’t as up-to-date as the maps from Kalen. And a normal caravan would have at least ten Protectors for every five cars but they would have had less than ten total. Instead their guard would have been made up of two official Protectors, four retired Protectors, and then local police. 

“If the same thing happened today, we wouldn’t be in as bad of a place with the connections to The Capital but back then it would have been bad. Our May caravan had just left when it happened so there wouldn’t have been one until August and we had, maybe, a month of food. Our hydroponics buildings had been destroyed and all we had was the emergency stores of fast-growing wheat.” 

Fast growing wheat had been the biggest creation since The Others War. It could grow in a month and was packed with nutrients. It was hard to manage, though, because it could easily succumb to diseases common to hydroponics. But outside, in fertile ground, it had thrived and thanks to that and intense rationing, they’d been able to survive until August. 

Not a lot of people knew about Kita and even less knew that the city had almost failed the May when Yuri had just learned how to drive but everyone in Kita remembered it. Everyone here loved their city fiercely and so many of the adults living here had built it with their own hands. Yuri might be restless and he might want to get to Kaila to prove himself, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t proud of saving the place that so many people loved. 

“I don’t know how anyone could live like that,” Otabek admitted, the thought of not living within the double-walled safety of Twaight and with a safety net in case something went wrong was sort of terrifying to him. 

“We’re pretty cool here.” Yuri grinned, “But forget about that. Now, do you see why I need to get to Kaila? I can’t convince them through messages that I have something worth their time, but if I go there then they have to listen.”

Otabek wasn’t sure if that was how it worked but who was he to turn Yuri down? Otabek had forced his way into the military at fifteen through a combination of luck, smart friends, and being in the exact right place at the exact right time. 

So that was why Otabek sighed and smiled. “Okay. We’ll go there together.”

Yuri smiled back at Otabek, feeling excitement bubbling in his veins which almost masked the anxiety he was already feeling over the trip. It wasn’t exactly a safe journey and he knew it. He had little training in any sort of fighting and while Otabek had to be a good fighter, he was injured.

“When do we leave?” Otabek asked. “And will you be able to convince a Protector to come along with us?”

“Almost all out local Protectors left with February’s caravan,” Yuri explained, dropping to the ground to pull a box out from under his bed. 

“Then what exactly are you planning?” Otabek knew the roads were dangerous and it sounded to him like the local raiders were particularly aggressive.

Yuri showed him the gun he had, unloaded next to a small supply of ammunition. “I’ve got this and I know how to use it, Dad taught me. Since we’ll only be one car, there’s a good chance they won’t bother us.” 

“I’m not sure this is a great idea,” Otabek confessed, watching Yuri carefully load the gun. “I can just call Twaight and send my information to them verbally.” 

Yuri paused, looking a little defeated. “Oh…”

“It’s just… I have images I needed to get to them that I don’t think can be sent virtually.” Otabek knew he didn’t need to be that secretive anymore, he was back in Aceel, but it still felt like the sensitive information he had should be brought by hand so nobody could intercept it. “How long would the trip take?” 

“Probably five days,” Yuri told him. “It takes a little longer for the caravans to make the trip but with one car we should be able to get Alolk in two days. Then it’s a one day trip to Ashborne, one day to Northpass, and then one more day into The Capital Complex. Once we’re inside it’ll probably take half a day to get you to Twaight.” 

Yuri finished loading his gun, checked to see in the safety was on, and put it in his waistband. Otabek looked a little uncomfortable with Yuri’s handling of the gun but he wasn’t exactly an expert on guns. Sure, he was part of the military, but as a pilot, he’d only had to take very basic firearms classes, many of which he hadn’t paid a lot of attention to. 

“Let’s go.”

“Where?” Otabek stood from the bed, still holding the ice Yuri had given him in place. 

“Downstairs.” Yuri frowned, “I hate to steal my dads’ car but we don’t have another choice.” 

Otabek wanted to argue because he might be young but he was the older one here and he knew this was irresponsible. 

As long as they got to Alolk, Otabek suspected they’d be fine. Maybe once he was there, he could convince Yuri to stay put. Otabek could probably get some protectors to escort the younger boy home after that. 

“Make sure you leave a note,” Otabek whispered as the headed downstairs. “So they don’t worry.”

“Oh, they’ll worry.” Yuri shrugged, “All they do is worry.”

Yuri reached for the door to the garage and just as he started to turn the doorknob, the lights in the kitchen came on and Yuri cursed under his breath, turning to smile at his dads. 

“Hello.” He gestured to Otabek. “I want you guys to meet Otabek.”


	4. A Bad Plan Is Better Than No Plan at All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They want a good plan but when it comes to The Northern Road there is never a good plan, only a best plan and a bad plan is better than no plan at all.

On one side of Yuri sat a deeply uncomfortable Otabek, his hands folded in his lap which he was staring intently at. On the other side was Kenjirou, who was mostly confused as to why he’d been woken up for this.

Yuuri and Viktor had been silently staring at their sons and Otabek for an uncomfortable amount of time before Yuri couldn’t take it anymore.

“This isn’t Otabek’s fault, I forced him to–”

And at almost the same time Otabek had also decided to speak. “Katsuki, Sirs, please don’t blame your son for my–”

Both teenagers looked at each other, Yuri annoyed Otabek would undermine his attempt to get him out of trouble and Otabek surprised Yuri would be willing to take the blame for someone he just met.

Yuuri was the first to sigh, loudly, and then sit down across from the three teens.

“We’re both angry with you, Yuri,” He started. “But I guess neither of us is particularly surprised.”

“You’re not?”

Viktor snorted, rolling himself closer to the table. “We were close with your parents and those two could never sit still. We suspected you’d be the same. We just never thought that would mean you trying to make the journey to Kaila with a single gun, a stolen car, and an injured stranger.”

Yuri knew almost nothing about his birth parents. They’d been killed in the worst raid Kita, if not Aceel, had ever seen. If ‘The Famine Raid’ two years ago had almost destroyed Kita then ‘The Raid’ thirteen years ago _had_ destroyed Kita. Yuri had only been three at the time and didn’t remember the time pretty much at all. Kenjirou had been older, six going on seven, and Yuri knew he’d had nightmares about The Raid for years. Yuri suspected The Raid was the reason for his Dad’s breakdown when Yuri was five.

“I know you think we’re overprotective,” Yuuri said, his voice quiet. “But there’s a reason for that… I guess, we both just want to explain ourselves a little bit so you understand where we’re coming from.”

Now Kenjirou spoke up, “Does this have something to do with the fact that all the older Caravanners seem to love you guys but won’t tell any of us younger Caravanners why they think you’re so cool.”

Viktor laughed, “Probably. Though, I doubt it’s me they think is cool.”

“Vitya, don’t start.” Yuuri rolled his eyes but Viktor was already off.

“You know that Caravanners like their privacy, especially those from The Second Generation.” Yuri and Kenjirou both nodded while Otabek mostly looked confused. “Well, that’s still true now that most of us have retired.”

“Your papa and I were Caravanners since we were young,” Yuuri said.

Yuri was a little surprised to hear that they were actual Caravanners, not just people who worked for the Caravanners, but if he was honest, it didn’t seem that crazy to him.

“I was a router.” Viktor explained, “I started routing and directing Caravan from when I was sixteen.”

Now Yuri was surprised. Sixteen was fucking young to be anything more than an apprentice router. Especially since Yuri had always assumed the Caravanners would be less than kind to someone with a disability.

“I still do some routing work but I don’t do the actual caravan direction anymore.”

“Is that how you ended up in a wheelchair?” Yuri asked quietly but Viktor only laughed.

“No, I wasn’t lying about that.” Yuri’s shoulders lost some of their tenseness. “It really was from a childhood illness.”

“Wait…” Kenjirou looked honestly surprised as he worked through what this new information meant. “Does that mean… when they were planning an unofficial caravan two years ago, you were the retired router?”

“Yah.” Viktor smiled, his eyes suddenly far off. “I was considered one of the best and so I often got paired up with important caravans which meant being paired with the best Protectors.” He turned to look at Yuuri with starry eyes that made his husband groan even though he was smiling. “Yuuri was the fiercest Protector of The Restoration Years. He was great at all manner of fighting but he was the best sniper in the entire Caravanners Guild. One time my routing fell through and we came under attack out West. There were a good twenty raiders to our six Protectors and Yuuri took out more than half the raiders himself. I fell in love with him on the spot. He was sweating and had pushed his hair back, his breathing heavy and–”

Yuuri rolled his eyes but smiled wider at that memory. “Our point is that we’re protective because we know what it’s like out there. We’ve both lost people on the roads, even with the best guards and the best router and the best tech. The road between here and Ashborne is the most dangerous stretch of road in the country and there’s no way we can let a fifteen-year-old and an injured…” Yuuri looked at Otabek for a long time, “…teenager make that trip with a single gun. A gun, I should add, you learned to use a year and a half ago.”

“Dad, I know you’re worried and I get it!” Yuri was trying to get past the fact that he was pretty surprised to hear that his Dad, a man who’d always seemed pretty meek if Yuri was honest, was a famous Protector. That did explain why, during The Famine Raid, it was Papa who brought Yuri down the small pavement path to the Nishigori’s house to hide while Yuuri and Kenjirou ran the other way.

“But the thing is, this is important. Otabek needs to get to Twaight and I need–” Yuri took a breath, amending his words. “I _want_ to go to Kaila.”

“We know.” Yuuri bit his lip, “And we know there isn’t much that will stop you at this point so we’ll let you go.”

“Really?” Yuri exclaimed as Kenjirou looked worriedly at their dads. Had they both lost their minds?

“On one condition.” Yuuri said, “One that is out of either of our hands.”

“What?” Yuri smiled, not worried what the condition was.

“Kenjirou,” Yuuri and Viktor were looking at their older son. “Since you have the month off… We were wondering if you would escort them.” Yuuri’s face was serious. “I know a lot of your coworkers and they’ve said you're as good as me, which I’m pretty sure means you’re better. I don’t like sending a single Protector to protect two children but we don’t have a choice.”

Yuri blinked at his brother. Had Yuuri really just said Kenjirou was a Protector? Yuri knew he should have guessed that, who else would disappear for weeks then reappear with long stretches of time off, but he never imagined Kenjirou would be a Protector. A router, maybe, but a Protector? His brother and his dad were the last two people he’d ever have imagined as Protectors and Yuri felt like a bit of an idiot for making these assumptions.

“You don’t have to go,” Yuuri continued. “But without any other Protectors to spare in town right now, you’re the only one.”

Kenjirou sat for a long time, looking at his hands. When he looked up, his face was set.

“I’ll do it.”

\---

Yuri watched with interest as Kenjirou packed their cars with guns and ammunition Yuri didn’t know Kenjirou owned, let alone knew how to use. Suddenly, Yuri was stuck with the thought that maybe this had been a bad idea.

But, no, even if he could wait to go to Kaila, he really didn’t think Otabek could wait. The other teenager hadn’t said anything but Yuri could tell whatever information Otabek had, it was extremely important.

“Kenjirou…” Yuuri was standing and watching his oldest son pack the car, with a look in his eyes that was a mixture of parental concern and the measured judgment of an expert. “Do you want… Do you want me to come along?”

Kenjirou stopped, looking at his dad for a long time. He looked at Yuuri like he was seeing the older man in a new light. Yuuri was no longer just a father to him, now he was also a hero.

Kenjirou had fought alongside their dad already so it wasn’t like he’d thought Yuuri was incapable but him being an apparently famous Protector means something else entirely.

During The Famine Raid, while Yuri was being brought to safety by Viktor, Kenjirou and Yuuri had been running towards the wall breech with guns in hand. Kenjirou never questioned why Yuuri had so many guns hidden in their garage, under strict lock-and-key, just accepted the gun Yuuri gave him. Yuuri never even scolded Kenjirou for learning to shoot a gun behind his back after Yuuri and Viktor told him he didn’t need to learn, instead accepting him as a fighter who could protect their home.

After that night, and especially after he saw how much admiration his coworkers had for his parents, Kenjirou suspected Yuuri was more than just another settler. He’d seen someone who was a great fighter and a great leader. While he’d never said it aloud, or even really thought it in any specific way, Kenjirou saw a Protector in Yuuri that night who Kenjirou knew he could always trust to watch him back.

That night had been the reason Kenjirou was personally asked to join The Protectors but he often felt like he didn’t deserve the honor he’d received. Without Yuuri by his side, the seventeen-year-old he’d been then never would have been brave enough to fight the way he did.

So, Kenjirou wanted to accept Yuuri’s offer. He wanted his dad by his side not just because he was a great fighter, but because Kenjirou was terrified by the idea of having his brother’s life entirely in his hands. But…

Yuri was five when Yuuri had to go to The Capital Complex with Viktor and he remembered how dire it had been, how in pain Yuuri had been, but Kenjirou remembered so much more. It was vague, but he remembered watching Yuuri and Viktor fight during The Raid. He had seen Yuuri start the fight with seven people around him, six of his closest friends and the person he loved the most in the world, and by the end, there were two. By the end, Viktor and Yuuko were the only people left alive and that hurt Yuuri in a way it never hurt Viktor or Yuuko.

Kenjirou remembered two years later when Yuuri couldn’t pretend he was okay anymore and it all caught up with him. He was the best and he couldn’t deal with the fact that five of his teammates died next to him, not to mention all the other people in the city who died.

Kenjirou knew that if he had to, Yuuri could and would fight the entire world for his city and for his family. Kenjirou knew Yuuri would never let his anxieties and past traumas affect what he still considered his work if he could help it. But it would hurt him.

Kenjirou wasn’t stupid. He knew that a trip to The Capital Complex without a caravan and without a real router would change Yuuri for the worst.

“It’s fine, Dad.” Kenjirou smiled, “I can take care of one car by myself. Think of these two as half a Protector each.” Kenjirou gestured to Yuri and Otabek. “So we really have two Protectors with us.”

Yuuri laughed a little, hugging Kenjirou tightly. “Thank you… Good luck and… I love you.”

“I know.”

Kenjirou patted his Dad’s back as Yuri leaned down to hug Viktor and say his goodbye. Viktor and Yuuri finished their goodbyes to one son before trading places and cooing over the opposite son.

“Otabek Altin.” Viktor gave Otabek a withering look, making the dark-eyed seventeen-year-old stand up straighter. “I know my sons will be looking out for each other and looking out for you so you better do the same.”

“Yes, Sir.” Otabek nodded. “I wouldn’t dream of doing anything else, Sir.”

Yuuri came to stand next to his husband, laughing lightly.

“No need to call him Sir, Viktor isn’t all that scary.”

“Yuuri!” Viktor whined, both men doing their best to mask their growing anxiety about sending their two young sons on one of the most dangerous journeys a person could take.

“Otabek,” Yuuri was smiling when the teen stood up straighter again. “I can tell you’ve been through a lot the past few days, maybe even weeks, and I want you to know everyone is proud of you.”

Otabek blinked, turning his head down to hide the fact that he had tears in his eyes. It had been a long time since he’d heard anyone say they were proud of him.

“Thank you, Sir.”

“Well, you three.” Yuuri was smiling wide, knowing he would spend at least the next day in a state of terrible anxiety. “It’s almost dawn and there’s really no better time to get on the road. If you can, don’t stop for anyone. I know you don’t have a choice of route because our car isn’t made to drive long distances through wasteland and I know you’ll probably have to stop to refill the gas, but… Be careful.” They all nodded, “Kenjirou… I wish you clear roads and cloudy skies.”

Kenjirou nodded, “I wish you careless dreams and careful daydreams.”

“Yuri, Otabek, make sure you two listen to Kenjirou,” Viktor reminded. “I know he's not that much older than you but he’s an official Protector and he knows what he’s doing.”

Otabek nodded as Kenjirou moving to help him get comfortable in the back seat, handing him an ice pack that wouldn’t last very long but would hopefully help a little.

Yuri nodded too and started to move towards the front passenger’s seat but then paused, turning to run back and give his dads another hug each.

“Thanks.” He said, blinking away tears. “I love you guys.”

“We love you too.” Yuuri and Viktor said in unison.

Yuri smiled at them then his face fell into a set confidence and he was off to the car, all three teens contemplating separately how they got to such a low point.

Otabek murmured a prayer to a god he still wasn’t sure he believed in but was starting to consider the reality of, Kenjirou said an old Protector’s recitative, and Yuri took a deep breath.

Then they were off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have 10 1/2 chapters written of what I'm 99% sure will be 13 chapters unless chapter 11 ends up super long and I split it into two chapters. So like if I finish writing the entire fic soon I might up the posting days because I'm ~impatient~


	5. Careful Considerations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second day was sunnier, worrying Kenjirou a little bit. There had been very little radio chatter which meant there probably hadn’t been any attacks on the caravan that left not long before them. For Kenjirou that was worrisome because that meant the Raiders would likely be waiting for an easier target. A target like them.

Their first day of driving was uneventful and for that all three journeyers were glad. It was cloudy the entire drive which Kenjirou was glad for. No sun glinting out their car but also it wasn’t dark enough for them to need headlights, which would give their position away quickly. They slept comfortably that night, pulled a little off the road. Kenjirou and Yuri had taken turns with watch, both deciding Otabek needed as much rest as he could get given his injury.

Just before dawn they’d gotten up, refilled the gas tank, and Kenjirou had made sure his favorite guns were close by.

The second day was sunnier, worrying Kenjirou a little bit. There had been very little radio chatter which meant there probably hadn’t been any attacks on the caravan that left not long before them. For Kenjirou that was worrisome because that meant the Raiders would likely be waiting for an easier target. A target like them.

“So, Otabek,” Kenjirou turn slightly to glance at the teenager. “Where are you from?”

“Twaight.”

“That’s where you grew up?” Otabek nodded. “Wow, I couldn’t imagine growing up in a capital city. What’s it like?”

Otabek shrugged, “Growing up in Twaight is probably the capital city that is most like growing up in the outer region.”

“Is it really green there?” Yuri asked, “Like are there trees and grass?”

Otabek nodded, “Very green. The first time I left was a shock.”

Otabek closed his eyes. The first time he left had been by plane, in his first practice flight, and that had really a quite the visual. The walls of The Capital Complex, filled in with green, was all he could see at first. Then they pulled away and the walls got smaller and smaller and the green started to seem like nothing compared to the never-ending browns and yellows of the wasteland. He’d been so shocked at first that he almost flew too far, his instructor having to physically shake him to get his attention.

“I guess it was different,” Otabek murmured. “Growing up in The Capital Complex was different.”

“I can’t wait,” Yuri said, turning to Kenjirou. “Wait! You’re a Protector! Have you seen The Capital?”

Kenjirou nodded, “I’ve been to Kalen a couple of times.” He looked wistful. “I couldn’t believe the green the first time I saw it. The most green I’d ever seen was our small backyard garden and, well, that wheat doesn’t stay green very long.” 

They fell into silence then. Kenjirou thought about how amazing it would have been to live his life surrounded by green like that. Otabek went back to remembering his many flights and remembered how scary it had been to fly out over The Wastes and then over the mountains towards The Others. Yuri tried to imagine what The Capital Complex could look like even though he knew he had no way of truly imagining it.

“Kenjirou?” Otabek spoke, his voice surprisingly quiet. “You’re– You’ve… never mind.”

“What is it, Otabek?” Kenjirou looked in the rearview mirror and was surprised to see the teenager looked much younger than he’d seemed up until now. Instead of a serious military man he looked the child he really was. 

“Forget I said anything.”

Kenjirou sighed. He was used to Yuri being closed off but usually, once things got bad enough, he’d blurt it out. Also, he was much more likely to talk to Kenjirou than their dads, especially after Kenjirou taught him how to drive. They’d practice together, even now, and Yuri would tell Kenjirou things he didn’t normally talk about.

“If you’re sure. But– Fuck.” Kenjirou started to slow down, anxiety and adrenaline, not that the two were different, bleeding into his bloodstream when he saw three cars stopped in the middle of the road. Immediately, his voice shifted from the brotherly tone he was using to talk to the younger boys into the tone he used at work. The tone he’d learned from Yuuri. “Both of you get down.”

“Is it raiders?” Yuri asked, ducking down.

“I don’t know. I won’t know until we get closer.”

He prayed it was The Border Bandits. That would make them a bit outside their normal territory but he could hope. For such a big group, they were pretty harmless in the face of any sort of resistance to the point that Kenjirou didn’t understand how they still existed. He wondered if maybe they found some fertile land and water.

“Fuck.” He muttered again because once he got closer he saw that they had guns pointed at his tires and blue kerchiefs around their noses and mouths. “Northern Riders.”

Northern Riders were the group Caravanners were scared most of so, of course, they’d run into them. They were smart and aggressive, really not what Kenjirou wanted to have to deal with on his own. They’d picked an area where by the time Kenjirou noticed the cars, it would be hard to go around them. The terrain was just too rocky for anything but the best designed all-terrain cars.

“Hold on and stay down.”

Before Yuri could say anything, Kenjirou sped up and swerved, hitting the breaks. The car turned and gunshots were going off, but none seemed to hit the tires. That said, with the turning Yuri wasn’t sure whether he’d be able to tell if there was a flat tire.

When the car came to a stop, Kenjirou’s door was facing away from the Riders and he opened the door, jumping out before they could start shooting again.

“Yuri, I need you to stay down and remain calm.” Kenjirou was reaching to grab all the guns he had put in the front of the car. “Is the seat slid back enough for you to climb in front of it?” Yuri nodded and did was Kenjirou said. “Good, now pull the thing to flip the seat down. Then I want you to roll down the window.” Yuri did that, a few bullets coming through the window but not hitting anything since Kenjirou was low to the ground and Yuri was way below the window. “Good. Now crawl to the back and make sure you don’t raise anything above the window.

Once Yuri did as he was told Kenjirou closed his eyes, imagining the positions he’d last seen the gunmen in. Assuming they hadn’t moved one was in position to be easily shot through the window of the car and the other two were off to either side. One had been moving and not shooting at the car and Kenjirou assumed he was hiding somewhere now.

With a deep breath, he opened his eyes and moved to the end of the car, hoping the stationary Rider not in the center was still in the same place.

He popped out and found the Rider still in place, staring at the open car window where they thought he was. Unseen, he took a moment to steady his aim then let off three shots. He’d need to practice more on his aim, three shots were too many, but for now, Kenjirou wasn’t taking any chances. Not with his brother. Not with Yuri.

He was back in hiding by the time the middle Rider started shooting, already moving back to the car. He crawled across the front seat, positioning himself to be able to easily pop up and then back down behind the open passenger’s side window. He forced himself to take two deep breaths, then quickly moved and shot the middle Rider with three more bullets.

Before Kenjirou could take a breath or return back to his safe position behind the car door, he heard a shout from Yuri next to him and a gun went off.

His ears were ringing still from the gunfight, his mind frozen as he tried to assess whether he’d been shot. In the few moments of silence after the final gunshot, he seriously thought he had been. It was only when he decided he hadn’t been shot that he turned to look at Yuri and Otabek, fully expecting the worst.

But… they were physically fine. The only sign that anything was wrong was that Yuri was visibly shaking. He had his gun held in shaky hands, pointed somewhere behind Kenjirou, realization finally dawning on him. 

Kenjirou turned and saw the third Rider had come around the car while he was distracted but was now bleeding on the pavement from a bullet in his shoulder. Kenjirou stepped out of the car, his gun pointed steadily at the Rider.

“Are there more?” He didn’t respond so Kenjirou kneeled next to him, holding the gun close to the man’s head. “Answer me!”

“No.” He had tears in his eyes and Kenjirou felt mercy he wasn’t sure he could spare this man. “It was only us.”

“If I let you live, I want you to memorize this license plate and go tell your people that if they mess with us ever again, nobody will be left alive.” Kenjirou gave the man a cocky smile, hoping it looked more convincing than it felt. “You seem old enough to know Black Glass.” The man didn’t respond, only turning white. “I’ll take that as a yes. Well, I’m the second coming so tell your people to watch out.”

The man stood as fast as he could and staggered to one of the cars. Kenjirou didn’t know if he’d even be able to drive back to a Northern Rider base before the blood loss was too much, but that wasn’t his job to worry about. He also didn’t waste time worrying that his posturing would have negative consequences, instead watching the man drive away.

Once he was far enough away, Kenjirou go to work moving bodies and the other two cars, his adrenaline starting to fade into shaky anxiety at the reality of what had just happened. 

He was surprised they sent out three cars with only three people but when he got closer, he realized the car the final Rider had taken was the only working car and the other two were just shells they must have set up after the last caravan went through. IT would be a pain to try and move them so, instead, Kenjirou decided to try and drive between them. 

With a long, tired sigh he started to go through the bags and pockets of the dead Raiders, trying to remember that this was his job even if it made him sick. He had to protect his brother and if that meant… this, then he’d do it. He’d seen Yuuri during The Famine Raid and Kenjirou just hoped that he was half as good as his Dad was at steeling himself during times that could really only be called work. 

While Kenjirou was going through the bodied and cars, Otabek was watched worriedly from his place on the car floor as Yuri shook, his eyes wide and unseeing. 

“Yuri, are you okay?”

“What am I doing?” He asked, dropping the gun in front of him. “Kenjirou almost died. All because of me.”

“You saved him.” Otabek pointed out, pulling himself back onto the back seat, trying to find a position where his chest wouldn’t hurt. Once he was sitting comfortably, he reached over to tug Yuri up onto the seat too, forcing Yuri to look not at the gun or at the open car door, but at him. “Someone told me once that there’s nothing to gain from losing your mind to what-ifs.”

For a moment, Yuri wondered if Otabek would give him a hug but he quickly forgot about the possibility of that. Firstly, Otabek was a near stranger and that would be a strange request of Yuri’s part. Secondly, Yuri wasn’t a child and he didn’t need physical comfort. Or, more accurately, he didn’t want people to think he needed physical comfort. He was independent and would be fine on his own.

Kenjirou slid back into the car, pulling out a small piece of technology that Otabek recognized as a GPS. He then turned and hit some buttons on the car’s console before picking up the radio transmitter.

“Minami reporting. Over.”

After a long time, the radio came to life and the voice responding was one Yuri recognized as one of Kenjirou’s friends who worked as a radio operator for The Caravanners.

“Kenjirou, what are you doing out? Over.”

“I’m out on a personal escort mission, reporting in an ambush. Over.”

“Ambush! Are you okay?” The man on the other end sounded frantic. “Kenjirou, why’d you leave on your own?” There was a long pause and the man added, “Over.”

“Yuuto, I’m fine.” Kenjirou smiled a little, “They only sent three people, they didn’t stand a chance. Over.”

“Okay…” Yuuto sounded unsure but he continued. “Where are you? Over.”

Kenjirou gave the coordinates quickly, “I doubt a caravan would be routed through here and there aren’t many single cars going through but just to be safe. Two are dead, the other was injured but I let him go. Not sure if he’ll survive. Over.”

“Northern Riders? Over.”

“Yep. Over.”

“And no injuries on your end? Over.”

“None…” Kenjirou looked uncertain. “I’m really fine, Yuuto. I’m sorry for leaving without saying anything but it was important. Over.”

There was a sigh from the other end and Yuri was struck by how unprofessional they acted. And, how young his brother seemed.

“I know, I know.” There was laughter in his friend’s voice but Kenjirou wasn’t fooled. “Thanks for calling it in, I’ll send a warning out. And I’ll call into Alolk and tell them you’re headed their way. They should be able to house you for the night and get you some cheap gas. How many with you? Over.”

“Two others. My brother and…” Kenjirou turned and looked at Otabek for a bit, deciding what would be the best choice of words. “And a pilot who’s hitching a ride back to The Capital. Over.”

“Okay, I’ll call it in and Kenjirou… Be careful. Over and out.”

“I will and I’ll be back soon enough. Over and out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! I finished writing this (had to add a chapter because ch11 ended up being hella long) so I'm adding Sunday to the update cycle. 
> 
> I feel like Yuri is ooc in this fic but like... god it's hard to write him sometimes.


	6. Friendship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuri liked to pretend he was cool but he didn’t have a lot of friends and he found he got easily attached to new people. It hadn’t even been three days and Yuri was already attached to Otabek because he thought they might be friends. 
> 
> But were they friends?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're interested in some map sketches I did for this, they can be found here:  
> [Maps](http://mismatched-ideas.tumblr.com/post/166197138348/map-sketches-for-my-ongoing-fic-theres-death-in)

Alolk was a small city, but it was still bigger than Kita and so Yuri was fascinated. At first, he tried to pretend he wasn’t amazed, not wanting Otabek to think he was some sort of small-town kid who didn’t know anything, but it didn’t take long for him to throw that all out the window in favor of gaping at how urban everything was. 

“I’m going to have to do some reporting, so I’ll be a little bit,” Kenjirou told the two younger boys before handing Yuri some money. “Why don’t you two get something to eat? Just make sure you’re back here back here in, let’s say, three hours.”

“Thank you!” Yuri said, already grabbing Otabek to pull him in a random direction. “See you later, Kenjirou.” 

“Where are we going?” Otabek asked, trying to ignore his own reflection because every time he caught his own gaze, he realized how terrible he looked. 

“A restaurant Dad talked about a couple of times. He was born here,” Yuri explained. “And he used to talk about this restaurant near The Caravanners’ headquarters.”

“What’s it called?”

“There it is!” Yuri pointed to a small restaurant nearby and Otabek couldn’t help but smile at Yuri’s excitement. It seemed that for as much as Yuri tried to be cool and serious, he was really not that different from any kid his age. 

But, the thing was, Otabek could tell there was still something off about his companion and so while the two ate Otabek decided to face the problem head-on. 

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Yuri responded, mouth still full. 

“You’re lying.” Otabek pointed out before amending, “But you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want.” 

He’d often been told he was too blunt. 

“I’m fine, asshole.” Yuri bit back but then he sighed, thinking about how Papa always said that Yuri had to be careful not to lash out at people just because he was afraid. “I shouldn't snap at you.”

“It’s fine.” 

They ate in silence for a while before Yuri spoke up, “Why’d you join the military so young?”

“I lost people I cared about.” Otabek shrugged. “I had nothing left so I thought the military would at least give me something.”

“And did it? Give you want you wanted, I mean.”

Another shrug. “I haven’t really figured it out yet.”

“Oh…” Yuri played with his food a little, not looking at Otabek. “Well, I hope you figure it out.”

Otabek hated that he felt like he’d screwed up this conversation, “Thanks.”

\---

Kenjirou knew Yuri didn’t sleep the night before. He’d heard the younger blond wake up from what could only be a nightmare but Yuri hadn’t made any move to even leave his bed after that so Kenjirou let it be. Now, on the road between Alolk and Ashborne, Yuri was asleep in the backseat and Otabek was riding shotgun. 

So, of course, the trip had been silent. 

As they came to the border wall that marked the end of the outer region, Kenjirou wondered if Otabek was asleep too. But then he cleared his throat and seemed to decide he had something to say. 

“Kenjirou…” He took a deep breath. “Have you had to do things you didn’t want to do?”

Kenjirou turned to look at Otabek, who looked so young as he stared at his lap. 

“I killed someone for the first time when I was seventeen.” Kenjirou finally said. “Did Yuri tell you about The Famine Raid?” Otabek nodded. “About a year and a half earlier I’d tried to convince our dads to teach me how to shoot a gun but they refused. Like a good kid, I went behind their backs and convinced an older friend of mine to teach me. Dad eventually found out and he was angry and he grounded me but… Well, he also caved and said he’d teach me how to shoot. That was really when I first started thinking he might be more than he let on. He was just so good.” Kenjirou sighed, “But if we flash forward to The Famine Raid, Papa had already taken Yuri to the safety of a family friend’s house. I was supposed to go with them but I convinced Dad to let me come under the condition that I listen to everything he said.” 

The world outside was moving by fast and Kenjirou knew soon they’d arrive at Ashborne. In fact, he could already see tall buildings appearing out of the haze.

“I shot people that night. I killed people.” Kenjirou glanced at Otabek again. “I had nightmares for months. That night was what got me my job as a Protector and I had nightmares for months.” Kenjirou looked over at Otabek and found him making a face that said he didn’t understand Kenjirou’s point. “What I’m saying is that I’ve done plenty of things I didn’t want to and it’s hard to move on but you can and you will. I don’t know what they had you do over the mountains and I don’t know what you saw but you’ll be okay.”

“How’d you know I was over the mountains?” 

“If you were coming from Aceel and crashed, why would you need to get back to Twaight so fast? You obviously have something to tell important people and I swear things will be okay.”

Otabek wasn’t so sure, but it was nice to hear someone say so.

“Thanks, Kenjirou.”

“Don’t mention it.” 

\---

Even Otabek was impressed by Ashborne. The city had been built in the ruins of a pre-war city and all the structures had a weird mixture of new and old building to them. 

For another night, though, Kenjirou had to stay inside to give reports to Caravanners instead of joining Yuri and Otabek for dinner. 

“Is he always so serious?” Otabek asked when they found a relatively inexpensive restaurant that also had a nice view of the city. 

“Who?” Yuri asked through a mouthful of bread.

“Your brother.”

“Not really.” Yuri shrugged. “But he takes his work seriously and this is sort of like work for him. When he’s not working he’s kind of an idiot. He gets really excited about everything.” Yuri rolled his eyes but he was smiling. “Sometimes he gets so excited it makes his friends worry about his health.” 

Otabek laughed a little and Yuri was struck but the softness of the sound. “That’s surprising.”

“From what I’ve heard, Kenjirou is good at what he does.” Yuri was a little annoyed by how little he’d known about what his brother’s job was but that was beside the point. “I think it’s just his way of splitting his world… I think he learned it from our Dad.”

Otabek was nodding before Yuri finished. “Being a Protector isn’t easy, especially not on the Northern Road. The few Protectors I know say that anyone who’s a Caravanner to and from the north is a different breed of person.” 

Yuri thought for a bit, silently mulling over how different he was from his family. He’d not even killed the Rider who almost killed Kenjirou and he was having a hard time sleeping. It hardly seemed like something that would bother his dads or his brother, even if he knew that his dad at the very least had some issues relating to The Northern Riders. But The Raid was different. Everyone who remembered The Raid seemed to have lingering fears and _problems_. Yuri was honestly glad he had been too young to remember it even if that also meant he’d been too young to remember his parents. 

“Yah, they’re pretty strong.” 

Otabek felt like he should say something to cheer up Yuri, who was looking unhappily at his food, but found he had no idea what he was supposed to say. He’d been told throughout his life that he wasn’t very good at interpersonal skills, which was why he’d been chosen for the mission he was sent on. Apparently, Otabek was either too closed off or too blunt, with very little middle ground when it came to the more delicate of emotional situations. 

And this was one of those situations where Otabek was too closed off and said too little because he said nothing and then Yuri said nothing and the rest of the dinner passed in silence that neither Otabek nor Yuri knew how to break. 

\---

When Yuri woke with a start that night, Otabek was awake to see the teenager slip out of bed and out of the room. 

Yuri hoped he could find somewhere to get a cold glass of water, or really a cold glass of anything, to wash away the memory of his nightmare. 

Kenjirou was fine and Yuri knew he was fine but his mind seemed to want to play over and over again the scenario where Kenjirou wasn’t fine. Where the Rider had shot him in the back of the head, splattering blood onto Yuri, who was always alone in the back of the car, before turning the gun to point at Yuri.

In most cycles of the nightmare, the figure was the actual man Yuri had shot. Sometimes it was Otabek. A few time it had been Dad or Papa. One time it had been Kenjirou. 

Tonight, cycle after cycle was the real man, but the last few times it had been a faceless figure. Then, in the cycle that had woken Yuri up in a cold sweat, it had been a face Yuri knew. A face he was trying hard to not catch in the few reflective surfaces he passed.

He hated this. He hated that he couldn’t get the real event out of his mind during the day and that at night his mind played even worse tricks. 

Not finding anything to drink, Yuri decided to step outside. It was February and so the night air was cool. It was never really cold in Aceel, at least not compared to what it was like before The Others War. But Yuri didn’t know what that was like, there were only three people who had somehow survived to be over a hundred who could say they were born before The Others War ended but even they didn’t remember, they had all been barely more than newborns when the war ended. 

So, for Yuri, the night air was rather cold and he wondered if he should have pulled on a long-sleeve shirt, or a sweatshirt, before heading outside. Just as he thought that something knocked into his side and when he turned, ready for a fight, he saw it was just a sweatshirt.

“It’s cold out.” Otabek was standing next to him, staring at the sky like there was nothing else more interesting in the world. Yuri wondered if part of the reason Otabek became a pilot was because of a fascination with the sky. He explained why he joined the military but there was still a question of why a pilot, one of the few completely active part of the military. 

“Thanks.” He pulled on the sweatshirt, realizing it wasn’t his but instead Otabek’s. It was just a little too big on his, mostly showing in the arms. Even so, it was close to his size so he guessed it must be tight on Otabek, whose frame was wider than Yuri’s. 

“You’re strong too,” Otabek said, having realized what he should have said at dinner. “Nightmares and regrets don’t make you weak.”

“I just want to be stronger. I want to be able to shoot someone and not have nightmares.”

“It’s only been two days, you’ll be okay.” Otabek still wasn’t looking at Yuri and something about that was driving him crazy. “You’ve never left Kita and your brother almost died. Why wouldn’t you be upset?” 

“I don’t want to be upset!” Yuri looked at Otabek pointedly, wishing he didn’t have to look up at him even if it was slight. “I just want to be like Kenjirou and Dad and Papa. I want to be like you.” He grimaced, knowing he’d said too much. 

Yuri liked to pretend he was cool but he didn’t have a lot of friends and he found he got easily attached to new people. It hadn’t even been three days and Yuri was already attached to Otabek because he thought they might be friends. 

But were they friends?

“Yuri?” Otabek looked down at the younger boy but he wasn't looking up anymore, instead hiding behind the curtain of his hair. 

“Are we friends?”

“What?”

“I just– You seem like a cool guy and I was wondering if you wanted to be friends.” 

Otabek smiled but Yuri didn’t see it, “Of course we’re friends.”

Otabek didn’t see Yuri’s smile either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm done editing and everything so maybe I should just post every day??


	7. Over the Mountains or Under the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bonds between us will only make us stronger.

If Ashborne had been impressive, Northpass was something else entirely. Ashborne had big buildings but there was something a little less impressive about them when you knew they were built on an existing skeleton. Or, it was impressive in a different way. 

Northpass was the first city build outside The Capital Complex and had a budding fashion industry that was unheard of outside of Owea. Even Owea really only had a couple of their art students working on various fashion projects, nothing like the actual fashion district Northpass had growing in its downtown. 

It was possibly Kenjirou’s favorite city. 

“Come on Kenjirou, we’re almost at The Capital. Do you really need to spend time at work?” 

Yuri knew Kenjirou had spent some time in Northpass and he wanted his brother to show him and Otabek around the city. He might not say it much, or at all, but he loved his brother and wanted any excuse he could come up with to spend time with him. Now that Otabek was his friend Yuri didn’t feel as self-conscious calling his brother his friend. 

Yuri really only had two friends. 

“Yuri, I have to–”

“You’re not even actually at work!” 

Yuri put on his best puppy-dog eyes, something he wasn’t prone to do but he’d learned from their papa years ago. Mostly he used them on Dad because he was weak to them. Really if Yuuri's family begged Yuuri enough they could get almost anything they wanted, with only a couple of exceptions. 

“You know, I hate you,” Kenjirou said but he was smiling and Yuri knew he’d won. Kenjirou was just too much like Yuuri. “Where do you want to go?”

“Anywhere cool!” 

Kenjirou chuckled because he rarely saw Yuri this excited about anything that wasn’t his tech.

“How about I show you the fashion district?” Yuri blinked at his brother, looking at Otabek who also didn’t seem to know anything about it either. “Fashion? Clothes.”

Yuri felt a little uncomfortable with the fact that he had no clue what to expect from a fashion district but the fact that Otabek also looked confused made him feel a little better. He reminded himself that even though Otabek grew up in The Capital, Twaight wasn’t exactly a cultural center. 

“Okay, let’s go.”

\---

Kenjirou was a bit obsessive when it came to his hero ‘The Black Glass’ and Yuri knew it. They’d both kept the obsession from their dads who seemed to dislike the idolization of Caravanners for reasons that had been unknown before and now made a lot of sense. Yuri had always been partial to ‘The Silver Scheme,’ though he wasn’t as into him as Kenjirou was into Black Glass. 

Third generation Caravanners like Kenjirou grew up hearing stories about the great Caravanners who reclaimed The Wastes. This was especially true in cities like Kita, where retired Caravanners made up most of the population. They’d tell stories about their friends or about people they’d heard stories about and kids really ate them up. Yuri and Kenjirou really only knew about them because Aunt Yuuko loved telling stories about Black Glass and Silver Scheme, which inevitably included all the other heroes of Kita. 

Yuri hadn’t thought of it until now, but if Dad and Papa were well-known Caravaners, then were there stories about them? 

“Yuri, look! They have Second Gen themed lines.” Kenjirou’s mouth was a wide-open smile that made Yuri happy even if he was rolling his eyes. “Do you think we could afford any of these?”

“I don’t know, you have the money.” Yuri followed Kenjirou into the store, Otabek not far behind. “I thought this was like art.”

“It is, but some of these stores actually sell stuff for everyday people,” Kenjirou explained. “But this line wasn’t here last time I was in Northpass.”

He continued chattering excitedly about the various pieces themed for Black Glass while Otabek raised an eyebrow at Yuri.

“Kenjirou really likes Black Glass,” Yuri explained but that didn't seem to clear anything up for Otabek. 

“Who’s Black Glass?”

“You don’t know?” Yuri blinked, “Just about the best Second Gen sniper! Along with his spotter, Red King, and the best Second Gen router, Silver Scheme, they were unstoppable.”

“Second… Gen?”

“Kenjirou!” Yuri reached over to grab his brother, “Otabek doesn’t know who Silver Scheme or Black Glass or Red King are.” 

“What about Yellow Cat?” He shook his head, only looking more confused, “Pink Queen?” 

“I have no clue who you two are talking about.” Otabek looked between the two teenagers’ scandalized gapes “What?” 

“Second Generation Caravaners,” Kenjirou explained, “retook The Wastes through courage and being the best of the best. First Generation Caravanners weren’t idolized because while they did important work, it was mostly pretty safe. The second generation was in a lot more danger.

“They’re like, umm, folk heroes.” Yuri added, “Most of them weren’t into being idolized–”

“Just doing their jobs, you know?” Kenjirou cut in, earning him a glare from Yuri.

“So once a Caravanner had proved themselves, their fellow Caravanners would give them a code name and then those were the stories told.” 

“Black Glass was an awesome sniper, the best there’s ever been.” Kenjirou was nearly swooning. “His spotter was called Red King and he was not just a great spotter but a well-liked Caravanner and apparently a fierce fighter.”

“He fought his way out of a Northern Rider camp to save Black Glass.” Yuri broke in, “But the best is definitely the router, Silver Scheme. Without him, Red King never would have even gotten close to that Northern Rider camp.” 

“And everyone knows that Pink Queen was a Protector who was considered one of the best in hand to hand combat.” Otabek felt like he’d missed something big but it was fun to watch the brothers get so excited. “She stayed on the road while she was pregnant for a really long time and after she had her kids she left them with her husband and went back on the road.”

“She was one of the last of the Second Generation to retire or join the higher ranks.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m still a little confused. How do you know about these people?” Otabek looked between the brothers. “I’ve never heard about any of this.”

“Oh.” Yuri’s smile dropped, “I guess The Capital wouldn’t care much about Caravanners.”

“Especially not Twaight,” Kenjirou reasoned, having momentarily forgotten about the tension between The Caravanners and the Military. “Sorry, Otabek.”

“It’s fine.” They were both still looking at him but Otabek waved them away. “Don’t worry about me.” 

Kenjirou shrugged and went back to looking at the clothes, grabbing some to go try on. 

Yuri hung back for a little longer, looking worriedly at Otabek who looked upset.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Otabek said, his face only looking more upset as he spoke.

Yuri pouted, crossing his arms. “No, you’re not.” 

“I am.”

“Don’t lie to me. I’m your friend.” 

Otabek bit his lip before sighing but not ready to give up, instead offering up what he hoped was a convincing explanation. It wasn’t a complete lie, so he hoped it would be convincing. “I just wish I had someone like Kenjirou. A brother, I mean. You guys are really close and I’ve just never had that. You guys really care about each other.” 

Yuri looked down at the floor, “I know we only just met but that doesn’t mean we don’t care a lot about you.” He rubbed the toe of his shoe on the white tile floor. “And we can, like, share things. You like stars, right? I like stars too, so maybe we can talk about those.”

Otabek blinked at Yuri, not sure when he learned Otabek liked looking at the night sky. 

“Okay.” Otabek smiled and this time Yuri had looked up in time to see it. Yuri thought it might be the softest smile he’d ever seen and that included his dads, who smiled at each other with smiles soft enough to be made of silk. “Thanks.”

“Whatever.” Yuri turned to look at the rack of Silver Scheme inspired clothes to hide the blush that had formed at the sight of that smile. Yuri couldn’t say exactly why the smile made him blush but he thought it might have something to do with the warm feeling in his stomach. “We _are_ friends.”

“Yah, friends.” Otabek was still smiling even if Yuri refused to look.

“I’m going to try these on,” Yuri announced, disappearing with some clothes and leave Otabek to follow slowly, a smile still on his face because he really hadn’t realized how long it had been since he had a friendship that was simple and warm. 

It was nice. 

\---

“Yuuto, don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” 

Yuri hadn’t been trying to eavesdrop on his brother’s phone conversation but he’d told Otabek they could stargaze for a little bit and was on his way to join him when Yuri heard his brother’s voice. So maybe he’d sort of been trying to eavesdrop on Kenjirou, but it wasn’t his fault that he’d been drawn to the soft vulnerability of his brother’s voice. 

“It was three Riders… Yuri was watching my back… Yuuto, please don’t– I’m sorry, okay!” Yuri blinked at the frustration in Kenjirou’s voice. “I’ll be fine, I swear. I have to get home to give you the present I got you.” Kenjirou laughed. “Not telling, it’s a surprise.” 

Yuri decided now would be a good time to sneak away, leaving his brother to his call. It was just a call with Kenjirou’s friend and, really, none of Yuri’s business. 

As he left he thought he heard his brother say ‘love’ but he guessed it had been something more along the lines of ‘you’ll love it.’ 

Then again, Yuri guessed he just might not know everything about his brother’s social life. 

\---

“There are so many stars here,” Otabek said once he and Yuri got settled on the roof of The Caravaner’s Headquarters where they were staying. 

“What are you talking about, you can’t see anything here.” Yuri looked at his friend like he had lost his mind.

“This is more stars than I ever saw in Twaight,” Otabek explained.

“Oh…” Yuri sometimes forgot how different Kita was from most cities, especially in The Capital Complex. “Maybe you’ll visit Kita again sometime? There are a lot of stars there, especially if you drive out into The Wastes on a moonless night.”

“You drive into The Wastes at night?” Otabek gaped at Yuri, who only shrugged. 

“I don’t go far. And Riders don’t bother people driving straight north, they assume anyone going straight into The Wastes like that is crazy.” Yuri smiled, “Where else could I test my tech?”

“Why go out to test it?”

Yuri snorted, “Because sometimes they explode or set on fire. And testing things like my reinvigorator is easier when I don’t have to worry about it fucking up houses.”

“I thought it only worked over a small area.”

“Sure it only _works_ over a small area, but I’m trying to make it work over a bigger area.” Yuri sighed, stopping himself from diving into the equations that were still not working out. It was just hard since whenever he had downtime, his mind wandered back to them. “I can get the dome of effect to be big, huge even, but it doesn’t reinvigorate properly. I can’t tell if it’s that it’s not working at all or if it just works really slowly. Based on my math I think it’s the second one but I can’t figure out how to make it work faster. I thought it was power but I spent a couple of days charging a bunch of batteries and even with the extra power, it didn’t work faster so I don’t know. I just don’t have the resources in Kita.”

“That's… pretty crazy.” Otabek said, amazed by Yuri’s explanations even if he didn’t think he understood them. As much as he wanted to ask more questions about this reinvigorator, the disgruntled look on Yuri’s face made Otabek change the subject as best he could. “So you drive out into The Wastes in the middle of the night to test stuff? How are your dads okay with that?”

“Kenjirou taught me how to drive behind our dads’ backs and he’s friends with the North Gate watchmen so I can leave without any issues.” Yuri raised an eyebrow at Otabek. “How do you think I came and got you?”

Otabek shrugged, “Didn’t think much about it, I guess.”

“What did you think about? When you’d crashed?”

“I thought I was still across the mountains.” 

“Across the mountains?” Otabek cursed, forgetting he hadn’t told Yuri where he’d been.

“Yah… My mission was to cross the mountains and see what... The Others were doing. To find out if they’d made any military leaps.”

“And?”

“I have to talk to the military.” Otabek wasn’t going to worry Yuri with the details he’d learned. They were terrifying and they would keep any sane person awake at night. Luckily, Otabek wasn’t sane. “That’s why I really needed to get back to Twaight.”

“Oh.” Yuri understood when he was being told to stop asking questions. “Did they shoot you down?”

“No, I ran out of gas and was trying a pretty dangerous re-routing technique to make it back to Twaight. I’ve always been able to do it successfully, but I was apparently already too low on gas and I started a fire. That’s what sent me down. I was able to soften the landing a lot because I was expecting it but… well if you hadn’t found me it could have been worse.”

“I kind of thought you were a meteor or something when I first saw the streak of fire.” 

“What if I was an alien?” Otabek asked, deadpan.

“An alien, huh?” Yuri smiled, trying to ignore the brush of their arms together when they both repositioned themselves at the same time. “I mean, that would have been pretty exciting but I don’t think I could have convinced my dads to let me go to Kaila if you’d just been an alien.”

“Just an alien?” Otabek laughed, “You make an alien crash sound so commonplace.” 

“I can hear Dad, ‘The alien can wait for the next Caravan like everyone else.’ And Papa would be all like, ‘Yura, you and the alien can go to The Capital when you’re older.’” 

Otabek laughed hardily next to Yuri and Yuri found himself laughing too, liking what it felt like to laugh with his friend. 

“So, Yura?” 

“A nickname.” Yuri explained, “Dad’s name is also Yuuri so Papa calls me Yura to make it less confusing. My birth parents apparently called me Yurochka but I think my dads didn’t want to seem like they were trying to take their place.”

“Yura's a nice nickname,” Otabek said, not thinking much about what he was saying. 

“Thanks.” Yuri hated the heat in his cheeks because he didn’t know why he was feeling like this. He’d known Otabek for days. “Do you have a nickname?”

“My moms used to called me Beka.”

Yuri smiled, “That’s a nice nickname too.”

“Thanks,” Otabek responded.

After that, neither teenager said much to each other but both went to bed feeling like maybe they really liked having a friend like the other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you were wondering, Kenjirou/Yuuto is my real hell-ship-rare-pair. I randomly paired them for something and then I got sucked into the hell that is this not-even-a-pairing pairing. If you thought I wouldn't ship a minor character with an even more minor character, then you were wrong. I have no shame. 
> 
> \---
> 
> Anyone want to try and guess who all those code names match up with? I mean, like, can I just say Kenjirou and Yuri might be the two biggest idiots in the world... But, yah, all those code names are specific YOI characters. They're all terrible and dumb codenames but like my brain doesn't know how to be cool.


	8. A Certain Kind of Finality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Green grass and goodbyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit short on story progression but it's an important one.

The wall of The Capital Complex was visible almost immediately after leaving Northpass and it only grew as the day wore on. 

For really the first time in their trip, Otabek looked more comfortable than Yuri and Kenjirou. From what Kenjirou had explained, while he’d been in The Capital Complex it had only been twice and it was always with a caravan. He had gotten all the passes they needed in Northpass but Yuri could tell that Kenjirou was still a little nervous. 

“Hey, Yuri, you ready to see a sight?” Kenjirou asked with a smile that didn’t totally mask his anxiety.

“Of course.” Yuri smiled slightly because, for as much as he wanted to seem cool, he couldn’t help but anticipate what he was about to see. He was sitting in the front seat again, ready to see the fabled miles of fertile land that were enclosed in The Capital Complex and trying his best to stay calm. 

“Well close your eyes, let’s make this a real surprise.” 

Yuri did as he was told and as Kenjirou talked to various border guards he could hardly wait. He’d been trying to imagine what The Capital Complex looked like his entire life and he could hardly wait to see the vast expanses of green. 

“Okay, Yuri, you can look.”

Yuri opened his eyes and was met with a view he could fathom. 

Behind him was dirty, white wall and at what seemed like the edge of the world there was a small sliver of more dirty, white wall. Between that side of the wall and their side were some other walls, these shorter and not as domineering as The Capital Complex’s walls, which gave the various Capital Cities even more protection in case of assault. The walls had been built when there was still a concern of land attack by The Others but nowadays they were unnecessary. The chance of a remote attack was much more likely but at this point and even that seemed unlikely. 

But it wasn’t the walls that captured Yuri’s attention but the fact that the land was so different. 

There weren’t many trees, except for in what seemed like orchards, and not everything was green. There wasn’t much growing and Yuri suspected it was because they’d come in February but there was still enough green to amaze him. Not to mention that even the patches of brown were so different from the browns and yellow Yuri was used to. This was a brown he’d seen before in his own backyard except now in greater expanses than Yuri could even imagine before this. 

After a long while of gaping at the green grass and the leafless trees – he couldn’t believe there were really trees – he turned to look at Otabek.

“You grew up here?”

“Yah?”

Yuri’s eyes were sparkling even as he kept his voice mostly even and almost uninterested. Even with all that, his own words ended up betraying his amazement. 

“This is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.”

Otabek smiled at his friend’s amazement. It was nice to watch someone experience The Capital Complex for the first time. Otabek had never thought of the fertile land around him as anything more than a chain that kept him inside walls he couldn't help but hate. The land seemed to laugh at him, seemed to tell him that for all the promise this land had, he had none. But Yuri… Watching Yuri see this land for the first time Otabek understood. He understood the promise and he understood why his moms ever settled in Twaight.

“I’m glad.”

\---

They had to stop in Kalen for longer than Otabek would like, the closeness to Twaight making him itch with expectancy. But Kenjirou had been using Caravanner housing this entire trip so he needed to give a short debrief before they moved on. And, anyway, he and Yuri needed to figure out where they’d be living in Kaila for the duration of their stay.

But soon they were on their way and Otabek’s anxiety to get back to Twaight started to fade and was replaced, instead, with anxiety he couldn’t quite place. He suspected it had something to do with the fact that this could be the last time he saw Yuri.

The anxiety only got worse when they arrived in Twaight and he had to start directing the car towards the best place to leave him. 

When they arrived at the headquarters for the Aceel Air Force, Otabek felt an unusual reluctance to leave.

He had people he was friendly with, sure, but they were mostly coworkers and didn’t really count as friends. He’d had two friends in his life, one he hadn’t talked to since he was sixteen and one who he’d lost not long ago. Now, Yuri was his only real friend left. He was the only friend Otabek had ever had that felt so comfortable and safe after such a short amount of time. Otabek knew he wasn’t the easiest person to be friends with so he really appreciated the fact that Yuri was still there. He couldn’t leave physically but it would have been easy for him to check out emotionally. Instead, Otabek felt like Yuri just invested more and more into their friendship and maybe… well, Otabek didn’t think he wanted to lose that.

“This is where I need to go,” Otabek said, opening his door and Yuri did the same. “Yuri?”

“I’m saying goodbye, dumbass.” He said, looking at the ground. “If I don’t– If I have to go home and I don’t– You better call. Just look up the number for Kita’s switchboard and they can direct your call to the Katsuki house.” 

“I’ll see you again,” Otabek said, his words confident even though he didn’t think he was right. “Kaila is not far from Twaight so even if it takes until you come here for school… I’ll see you then.”

Yuri was torn again, between wanting physical comfort and not wanting to seem like he needed it. Finally, he gave up on trying to fight his need for it because, hell, it might be the last time they see each other and after five and a half days, Yuri was sad to already be losing his first real friend. 

“If you don’t call, I’ll come and kill you,” Yuri said before throwing his arms around Otabek’s neck, hugging him tightly. “I’ll come see you before I leave– if I leave. I mean, maybe they’ll accept me on the spot after seeing how awesome I am.”

“Yah, maybe.” Otabek smiled, returning Yuri’s hug awkwardly. He’d never been very good at hugs. “Take care.”

“You too.” Yuri pulled away and gave Otabek a thumbs up, which the other boy returned. 

Yuri hopped back into the car and with a wave and a call of ‘be careful’ and ‘keep in touch’ from Kenjirou, they were off and Otabek had important work he had to do. He hoped Yuri would be sent home because the last thing he wanted right now was for him to be here. Otabek didn’t know what the data he collected meant but he had suspicions and if he was anyone else, it would have driven him crazy.

Maybe it had.

Of course, it didn’t matter much to him because either way he was going to give his higher up the bad news they all feared. 

The end of their new world might just be upon Aceel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so antsy when it comes to posting because literally, my favorite chapter is chapter 13 ie the second to last chapter. But I know I shouldn't post like every day or whatever because I should give myself time to finish this fucking Yuri centered fic that I need to fucking finish but am so. fucking. stuck. on.


	9. The Grass is Always Greener

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This should really be split into two chapters but like... I only now realized I could have split it into two chapters so... too bad... take this 4K word chapter to make up for the light and short previous chapter. Also, I feel like having more distracts from the parts of this chapter I hate haha
> 
> Also, this is minimally edited because I was realllllly tired.

Fruitless was the best word to describe Yuri and Kenjirou’s efforts. Yuri felt frustrated and about ready to burst when another person brushed them off and told them to go back to the outer region. 

Kenjirou had actually had to stop Yuri from punching that particular person. 

“Fuck this!” Yuri shouted, kicking the side of the bench Kenjirou was sitting on. Like the rest of Kaila, it was clean and minimalistic. Kenjirou thought about how similar the style was to Kita, but for such different reasons. Purposeful minimalism versus purposeless minimalism was a surprisingly stark difference in Kenjirou’s opinion. “Why is everyone here a fucking idiot?”

“Yuri, calm down.” Kenjirou sighed, “This is what Papa told you would happen but you didn’t believe him.”

“Shut up,” Yuri muttered, sitting down next to his brother. 

He was so angry he hadn’t even taken the time to be amazed by the fact that all the main roads were lined with trees and that worried Kenjirou. He’d expected Yuri to be upset when he realized that people weren’t really about to listen to a pair of fifteen and nineteen-year-old kids from a city a lot of people barely knew the name of. To these people, Kenjirou and Yuri probably looked like dirty idiots who didn’t belong anywhere near Kaila. 

The truth of things which Kenjirou and his dads had failed to tell Yuri was that nobody from Kita had ever been accepted into The Science Academy in Kaila. Kita was seen as a small frontier town with not much to offer intellectually. Just a bunch of foolhardy idiots trying to see how far into The Wastes they could get before everyone was killed by starvation, bandits, or both. 

“Yuri, let me show you something.” Kenjirou smiled, tugging at his brother’s arm to get him to follow, “We can talk there.”

\---

The view of a vast expanse of grass with various small groves of trees made Yuri nearly squeal. He didn’t because he was much too cool for that, but he still ran into the park and dropped down in the soft grass to stare at the sky. 

Even the sky looked different in The Capital Complex. The air was clearer and the sky was bluer and Yuri wondered how people could take such a place for granted. 

“Hey, little bro.” 

Kenjirou sat down next to Yuri and ruffled his hair. Yuri swatted his brother’s hand away but gave up quickly, opting for rolling over so he was face-first in the grass. This only made Kenjirou ruffle Yuri’s soft, blond hair more. For as much as he protested, Yuri didn’t really mind. 

“Why won’t they listen?” Yuri asked, picking his face up just enough for Kenjirou to hear him.

Kenjirou had started braiding his brother’s hair, knowing Yuri liked that even if he didn’t say anything. 

“Dad and Papa never wanted to discourage you and neither did I so we never really talked about The Capital much. We knew how much you wanted to come here and we weren’t about to stop you from believing because… we believed too.” 

Kenjirou used to find it hard to act like this, calm and brotherly, but being a Protector had evened his emotions out a little and had taught him how to speak carefully. When they were both younger, he and Yuri didn’t get along that well because of his propensity for unbridled excitement and Yuri’s attempts at being ‘cool.’ Kenjirou could still lose himself sometimes when he was really excited but when Yuri was involved, he’d learned how to act like a proper older brother. 

“The things is, in The Capital people see people from The Outer Region as sort of stupid. At best, they think we’re all headstrong adrenaline junkies. At worst, they think we’re headstrong idiots.”

“That’s stupid.” Yuri looked morose but his anger was mostly gone. Instead, he looked young and lost like he so rarely did but had started to more and more as of late. Yuri had acted like an angsty teenager for years before he was a teenager but it seemed like puberty had injected him with an uncertain hesitancy. 

“Yah… It kind of is.” Kenjirou smiled. “But they’re not completely wrong.” Yuri turned to raise an eyebrow at Kenjirou. “I think you need to be a little stupid to live in a place like Kita.” Kenjirou flashed his teeth at Yuri. “But you also have to be pretty smart to survive there.” 

This made Yuri smile, breaking his frown for only a moment before he was back to being annoyed. 

“That doesn’t really explain why they aren’t interested in my invention. I have proof it’s real. That should be enough. Shouldn’t it at least garner a look?” 

“You’ve seen all the green here, right?”

“Of course. It’s incredible.”

“So, do you think these people think much about how a reinvigorator would be really important.” 

Yuri thought for a moment but didn't like his conclusions. “Don’t they know how bad it is to live with only wasteland.”

“Sure, but it’s not that important to them. They see that everyone is fed and that’s all they’re thinking about. Your invention isn’t finished yet, the area of effect is still small, right?” Yuri nodded, “For people here, the only way they’d be interested is if you could make the area of effect, say, the size of Kita.”

“I can do that!” Yuri insisted, sitting up to look at Kenjirou. “It just doesn’t reinvigorate right. I think it’s just too slow over large areas but–” 

“Yuri.” Yuri stopped speaking, letting his face fall. “I know they should be interested even now, but they have other things they’re thinking about. Everyone had different problems and reinvigorating the wasteland isn’t that high on people’s list here, probably because they don’t think it can be done but also because they don’t think it needs to be done.”

“Kenjirou…” Yuri looked up at his brother, tears in his eyes. “It’s not fair.”

“I know.” Kenjirou pulled Yuri into a hug and let his brother cry. 

“We went through so much to get here and they don’t care,” Yuri muttered, sounding shocked and angry but also a bit shaken. 

“I know. But you did something good, you got your friend to Twaight.”

Yuri sniffled, “Yah… I guess so.” He took a shuddering breath and Kenjioru let go of him so he could wipe his eyes. “Do you think he’ll actually call?”

“Yah… I think he will.” Kenjirou thought for a moment, “Why don’t we stay here for the night then head home? We can stop by Twaight and see if you can say goodbye properly, okay?”

Yuri nodded, “Okay… Thanks, Kenjirou, for everything.”

“Thank you, Yuri…” Kenjirou smiled at his brother, who was looking a lot younger than he usually did. “You’ve done really good these past few days… And years. You’re going places, even if it seems like it’s taking too long.” If his brother wasn’t accepted to The Science Academy, Kenjirou planned to come pick some fights personally. “I can’t wait to see what you do.”

Yuri smiled, nodding. “Do you think we can get cake here?”

“Yah.” Kenjirou stood, helping Yuri to his feet before ruffling his hair again. “I think we can.”

\---

Yuri hadn’t really noticed when they first were in Twaight how different each capital city looked. 

Kalen had been bustling, with people everywhere. It had seemed a lot more like Kita, at least to Yuri, than the rest of the capital cities. Of course, there had been a lot more green and a lot more people than Kita, but the feeling was the same.

Kaila was all sleek, minimalistic architecture that seemed almost futuristic to Yuri. It was the exact kind of place he’d expect scientists to be researching the great new advances of Aceel’s Third Generation by Aceel’s Second and Third Generations. The entire city was so green that Yuri almost couldn’t handle it and he was glad to have seen the city for the first time now, as opposed to when he was going there to start school. He wouldn’t want to look like some outer region idiot who’d never seen grass before. 

Twaight, on the other hand, was very different from Kaila or Kalen. Its buildings were stouter, more economical. The entire city had a much grayer feeling than either Kaila or Kalen had. There was less green, though there was still plenty of it to spare, and everyone seemed to have somewhere important to be. In the other cities, everyone rushed around but not with the same severe looks of importance that everyone in Twaight seemed to have. The only times there were reprieves from the intimidating quiet of people rushing off to life-or-death meetings was when kids or teenagers would pass through. They all, for the most part, looked like the serious adults in how they were dressed and groomed but most had smiles on their faces and would walk slowly with friends, seeming to have nowhere to be. It was hard to imagine Otabek as one of those kids even though some of them were definitely his age and Yuri wondered if he’d always been like this or if it was just a product of joining the military at a young age. 

“Kenjirou, how are we going to find Otabek?” Yuri asked, realizing that once Otabek disappeared, they’d lost any way of finding him. 

“Every city has a Caravanner’s office.” Kenjirou explained, “We’ll go there and they should be able to find a contact who can locate Otabek.” 

\---

The Twiaght Caravanner’s office was small and dirty, nothing like the officers Yuri had seen up to this point. Yuri knew there was some tension between Caravaners and the military, but he didn’t think it would show in their offices like this. 

“How can I help you?” The man behind the desk asked, looking curiously at Kenjirou and Yuri, obviously confused by how out of place they both looked in Twaight. 

“Protector Minami, looking for information.” 

Kenjirou had put on his ‘work voice’ that Yuri found he liked less and less the more he heard it. He’d had to endure almost five days straight of it and really missed just being able to hear his brother’s voice like he grew up with it. The rises and falls. The excitement. The brightness. Yuri missed it after only a handful of days and he wondered what it would be like to live so far from home that he only got to hear it on the occasional short phone call. 

“What kind of information?” The man asked, typing something into his computer. 

“I helped to escort a pilot from Kita to Twaight. We dropped him off yesterday but have some important, sensitive information to give him and need to locate him.” 

The man raised an eyebrow at Kenjirou before smiling. “Sure.” He shrugged. “What’s the name?”

“Otabek Altin.” Yuri said, not sure Kenjirou knew Otabek’s full name.

The man looked at Yuri for a long time before shrugging again, “And your names?”

“Kenjirou Minami and Yuri Plisetsky.” Kenjirou said, opting for the shorter, and technically official, versions of their names. 

“I’ll put in some calls, why don’t you two take a seat?”

“Thanks.” Kenjirou smiled at the man then headed towards the small waiting area, Yuri close on his heels.

“Do you think they’ll actually find him?”

“Probably.” Kenjirou smirked, “The military might not like Caravanners but they’ll still listen to someone saying they’ve got ‘sensitive information.’”

“Good point,” Yuri smirked too.

As he waited, Yuri found his eyes getting heavier and heavier. The office was heated just a little to take off the winter chill but it was enough to make Yuri’s eyes heavy and his mind groggy. He’d not been sleeping well and he found that the only time his sleepiness caught up with him was during the day. 

It helped that he never dreamed during the day.

\---

Yuri was woken by Kenjirou shaking him awake. He’d fallen asleep against his brother, a small spot of drool on his arm. Yuri wasn’t sure how long he’d been out but it couldn’t have been that long since he was still groggy and tired. 

“Wha–?” 

“Yuri Plisetsky-Katsuki?” A man was standing in front of Kenjirou and Yuri who was tall and definitely not a caravanner. 

“Huh?” Yuri blinked, “Who–?”

“Who are you?” Kenjirou asked, “We need to speak with Otabek Altin.”

“We’re here on First Lieutenant Altin’s request. He seems to think you can help the military.” 

Yuri was too groggy to be concerned right now but he could still feel how tightly wound Kenjirou was by his side.

“I’m coming too,” Kenjirou said.

“Who are you?”

“Kenjirou Minami-Katsuki, his brother. He’s fif– sixteen,” Yuri looked at his brother confusedly, his mind still sleep-addled enough to wonder if he’d been sleeping long enough for it to become March. “I’m not letting you take my brother anywhere as he’s still a minor.” 

“Are you his legal guardian?”

“I am his caretaker while we’re away from home,” Kenjirou explained. Yuri didn't know how most laws worked but he didn’t think a caretaker was a real thing. Then again, he’d never left Kita so maybe it was real. “Our parents are back in Kita.” 

“You came all the way from Kita?” This wasn’t the military officer, but instead the man behind the desk. 

“Yah took the Northern Road all the way down.” Kenjirou smiled cockily, “Just me, my brother, and… Lieutenant Altin.”

“Damn.” The military officer looked annoyed but the man behind the desk wasn’t about to back off. “That’s some real Second Gen shit.”

“Thanks. Our parents were Second Gen–”

“If you two want to flirt, don’t do it on my time.” The military officer, who Yuri realized had never introduced himself which seemed rude, nearly shouted. Yuri guessed he wasn’t nearly as mean as he seemed, he just looked tired, but Yuri also wished he’d just calm down for a second. What right did he have to shout at them? 

“What your name?” Yuri asked, raising an eyebrow at the man. “And where are we going?”

“General Feltsman and I’m taking you somewhere to talk to some important people.” 

This hardly seemed like the kind of work a General should be doing, at least Yuri though. Maybe, he reasoned, that was why The General seemed so annoyed. 

“Kenjirou, let’s go. If Otabek asked for us, it’s gotta’ be important.”

Kenjirou shrugged, “Might as well. We were trying to contact him anyway.” He looked at the man behind the desk. “Nice to meet you… uh…”

“Alex.”

“Nice to meet you, Alex.” Kenjirou gave Alex another smile and Yuri rolled his eyes before both of them followed General Feltsman out of the office and towards, well, somewhere.

\---

The building they were brought to was one of the most impressive buildings Yuri had seen in Twaight so far. It was large, he thought it was the tallest building in the city, with the symbol of Aceel’s military on the front. There was also an Aceen flag flying next to the building, at half-mast for reasons that escaped Yuri. Apparently flying flags at half mast was a sign of respect when people died, at least that’s what he thought he remembered reading, but Yuri didn’t know what could have happened to create a need for remembrance. It wasn’t like The Military would show such respect for fallen Caravanners. 

Inside the building it was a bit dark, the lighting not really enough for the mostly windowless hallways Yuri and Kenjirou were being led through. As they passed doorways, Yuri saw that a lot of people were watching them pass and he wondered how unusual it was for outsiders to be in this building. 

General Feltsman never said a word to either teenager and he didn’t stop to chat with anyone, though he did return the salutes he received from people in the same hallways as them. Yuri wondered who General Feltsman because everyone they passed seemed to view him with some level of admiration or fear. The military didn’t do much these days, their war with The Others was just an ever-present memory, so it seemed strange that there was so much bustle here. Yuri didn’t know much about post-war military history but he wondered what this General had done to be seen as not just someone with a high rank, but obviously, someone who had a reputation. 

They finally stopped in front of a closed door, which was guarded by two men marked with patches for the army. Then saluted General Feltsman, who returned the salutes, then one guard swung the door open.

The room they entered was still a little dark, especially since it had no windows, but that seemed to be more because there was a projection on the wall and on the table in the center of the room. Around the table were some very unhappy looking people in military garb, all their faces ranging from vaguely familiar to complete strangers except for the one young face there. 

“Otabek!” Yuri exclaimed without thinking. He knew they were supposedly being brought to where Otabek was but until he saw him, Yuri didn’t really believe he’d see him again. 

“Yuri. Kenjirou.” He nodded to both of them. “How’d things go?”

“Badly.” Yuri sighed, “We were going to head back to Kita.”

“I’m sorry it didn’t work out but I think you can help us out,” Otabek explained, looking as stiff as when Yuri first pulled him out of his crashed plane. 

“What’s wrong?” Yuri asked, suddenly aware of how the unhappiness of the older military people in the room all seemed to be tinged with fear. 

“First Lieutenant Altin was sent on a mission along with another pilot to try and assess the danger posed to Aceel by The Others.” An older woman said. She had her hair pulled back into a bun tight enough that Yuri wondered if it gave her a headache. 

“The results of that mission are worrisome.” General Feltsman informed Yuri and Kenjirou, the news surprising Yuri but not Kenjirou. “We fear The Others have either found or recreated the bombs that were used by them and Aceel at the end of The Others War.”

A man with long hair and a kind face spoke up next. He looked the least scary of all the adults in the room but that made his face scary in a different way because instead of the severity that showed in everyone else’s face, his held only fear. 

“We think they have a wasteland bomb and we think they plan to use it soon.”

“Why are you telling us this?” Kenjirou’s voice was strained, fear obvious in it. “And who even are you?” 

“You’ve already met General Feltsman.” The long-haired man said, “I’m General Cialdini.” He pointed to the woman who spoke. “This is General Baranovskya.” Admiral Cialdini raised an eyebrow at the rest of the attendees, “I think the rest can introduce themselves.” 

“General Karpisek.” A man with red glasses said, smiling at Yuri and Kenjirou like he wanted to put them at ease. It sort of worked. 

“Admiral Park.” An older woman with long black hair said.

The woman next to her who had brown hair and seemed like the youngest one here other than Otabek spoke next. “Vice Admiral Odagaki.” 

“General Leroy.” A woman with glasses said before pointing to the man next to her. “And Lieutenant General Leroy.”

“We’ve heard you have something that can induce a large, semispherical field.” General Baranovskya said, looking annoyed at losing time introducing everyone. “Is this true.”

“Umm, I guess? What is it for?”

“If they attack us, they’re going to hit The Capital Complex with this wasteland bomb. Without the fertile land here, this entire country will collapse. Very few places can self-sustain without help from The Capital. The entire country would begin to starve.” General Cialdini frowned, “We have the technology to create a field that should protect the capital from any missile launched against us but…”

“The scientists in Kaila can’t figure out how to make a field big enough to protect a city,” Admiral Park cut in, “let alone the entire Capital Complex.” 

General Baranovskya looked at Yuri witheringly as if she could tell whether Yuri could help them by just looking at him. “Can you work with our people to protect the capital from this attack?”

Otabek moved around the table, walking to stand near Yuri. “We think they’re going to launch the attack either at the end of February or in early March. We don’t have time. But you said that your reinvigorator could create a large field, right? I don’t really know how it works but maybe you can figure out what’s wrong with the math or whatever.”

“I’m not sure…” Suddenly Yuri felt uncertain of his own abilities. Before now he’d be so sure of everything, of himself and his inventions, but in the face of _this_ he found himself not as sure. “I’m sure there are smarter–”

“Yuri.” Yuri turned to looked a Kenjirou, who was smiling at him. “You can do this.”

Yuri took a deep breath, looking at the faces of the military officials standing around, stoic and unhappy. He looked at Kenjirou again, he was still smiling even if it was a little strained, then at Otabek who was smiling just slightly. He tried to remember that the adults standing around him weren’t angry with him and had obviously brought him here because they thought he could help. Kenjirou thought he could do this and so did Otabek. 

He could do this.

“Okay. I think I know how to help.” 

“Good, you’ll start immediately.” General Feltsman looked between Yuri and Otabek. “First Lieutenant Altin, he'll say with you.”

“But Sir–”

“You have no bunkmate at this time, isn’t that correct.”

Otabek looked almost hurt by the General’s words but his anger melted into understanding. “I do not.”

“Then we’ll room him with you. Your current assignment will be as his escort, effective immediately. You can make sure he gets where he needs to be.”

“What about me?” Kenjirou exclaimed, realizing he was being left out of these plans completely. “He’s my brother and I can’t just go home and tell our dads I left him.”

“Wasn’t that your plan to begin with?” General Feltsman asked, “From what First Lieutenant Altin told us, your brother was hoping to stay in Kaila as a student so how is this any different than what you had planned.”

“I–” For a moment Kenjirou shrunk under the gaze of General Feltsman but after a moment, he stood up straighter. He was a Caravanner and he wouldn’t be intimidated by an old man who’d probably never left The Capital Complex. “First Lieutenant Altin said there could be an attack on The Capital soon. You can’t expect me to leave my brother to die here.”

“The hope is nobody will die.” General Cialdini smiled, looking between Feltsman and Kenjirou. “You shouldn’t worry about your brother, we’ll take good care of him.”

“I can’t–”

“Kenjirou,” Yuri interrupted. “You know it’s the only way.”

“It doesn’t have to be! Yuri, I’m not just going to leave you. I don’t care if you don't want to hear it but you’re a kid!”

“I know!” Yuri clenched his fists, staring at his shoes because for as much as he fought it, of course, he knew how young he was. He was fifteen, almost sixteen, and this was more than he should have to be thinking about but he was here and this was the world they lived in. “You don’t think I know that?”

Kenjirou deflated now and Yuri looked up at his brother, a pleading look in his eyes.

“We can talk more outside, okay?” Yuri asked.

Kenjirou sighed, glaring at the military officers in the room and receiving a few glares in response. 

“Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a weird fixation on the saying "the grass is always greener on the other side" I don't know why... I've just always enjoyed using it as the basis for stories. I have an unfinished story named Greener who's entire premise is basically that people think things will be better if they just get passed a literal fence. Spoiler alert, it's not better...
> 
> Okay, I'm gonna stop blabbering about random shit now :P
> 
> Butttttttttt I am considering posting Sunday (today) thru Friday so I can finish posting this week. I think it'll depend on how the fic I'm currently working on goes. I'll probably figure it out tomorrow.


	10. The Leftovers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People leave and people die and we're just the leftovers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I like this chapter. It might be my second favorite.

Lunch was silent for a long time, Kenjirou staring at his meal without sparing Yuri or Otabek a glance.

The thing was, he was afraid. More afraid than he’d ever been on the road, even on their trip here, when he knew he had Yuri’s life in his hands. He was more afraid than during the last raid or in the months following when he couldn’t forget the raid.

He couldn’t believe The Others had a waste bomb. He couldn’t believe they wanted to use it. This was why he’d never understand the military. As a Caravanner, his biggest concern on a daily basis was keeping the people he cared about—or the people he was paid to care about—alive. Using a bomb to further cripple an enemy you’d barely seen in over a hundred years seemed insane to him and it terrified him. This was the thing they’d all feared for so long only to decide it wasn’t a worthwhile fear. This was the exact thing they’d all thought was a fear for the old world.

Was Aceel also researching a waste bomb? Did they want to continue the war that had been stagnant for decades?

“Kenjirou, it’s going to be okay.” Yuri finally spoke, unable to handle his brother’s quiet anymore. He hated how serious his brother was when it came to work and this was somehow worse than that. “I’m going to be fine.”

“They’re going to attack us and you’ll be in the middle of it.” Kenjirou still wouldn’t look up. “You’d be safe at home. We have food and water. We’re far from The Capital Complex. All of us should just get in the car and leave.”

“I could save us, though,” Yuri said, his confidence back in the face of Kenjirou’s fear. “I could save everyone.”

“And what if you don’t?”

“I won’t let him stay if things aren’t going well.” Otabek broke in, drawing the attention of Yuri and Kenjirou. “If we get close to the expected attacks and things aren’t progressing… I’ll take him and leave.”

“I don’t need you to take care of me,” Yuri pointed out but Otabek was ignoring him.

“I won’t let anything happen to your brother.”

Kenjirou sighed, looking back at his food. “What am I going to tell Papa and Dad?”

“Don’t you dare tell them about the attacks.” Yuri said, “Dad will have a fit and probably try to come take me back himself.”

“They’ll find out, everyone will.” Kenjirou shook his head. “No matter how well the secret is kept, people will figure out. You know how closely they both follow the gossip. And, eventually, Aceel will have to be told.”

“I know but… don’t tell them immediately.” Yuri didn’t know what they could tell their dads to make them feel better but now that he accepted this job, he knew he wasn’t going to leave until it was done. Otabek could talk all he wanted about making him leave but Yuri wasn’t leaving until the work was done. The only thing he really knew how to do was work hard, sometimes too hard, and that was what he was going to do.

“I really don’t want to leave you,” Kenjirou said again. “I could probably take a temp position in Kalen and then I’d be close–”

“You love your work,” Yuri interrupted. “You need to do it. It’ll only be a month or so until things are over, one way or another. Go home with the next caravan.” Yuri smirked at his brother. “And make sure you say hi to Yuuto for me.”

“I will?” Kenjirou looked, not understanding Yuri’s smirk.

“Oh, and make sure you give him a kiss.”

“Yuri!” Kenjirou practically screeched, drawing looks from the patrons around them. “How?”

“I accidentally heard one of your phone calls.” Yuri huffed, “I can’t believe you never told me. I’m your brother!”

“We’re not– it’s not–” Kenjirou stuttered, his face turning red. “Caravanners aren’t really supposed to–”

Giving up, he groaned and put his face on the table.

“There, there.” Yuri laughed, “I’m sure nobody actually cares about those old rules. I mean, look at Dad and Papa.”

“Shut up.” Kenjirou managed, not taking his face off the table. “It’s only been, like, a handful of months, okay? We’re not even that serious.”

Yuri laughed a bit and Kenjirou did too, looking up from the table with his face still red. Next to them, Otabek once again found himself jealous of Yuri and Kenjirou’s relationship. He’d had a similar relationship not that long ago but it was over now and it hurt him to even think that he’d probably never have that kind of relationship again. It even made him a little angry, though he knew that was just his jealousy speaking.

No matter what he’d protect this relationship and that meant protecting Yuri. Of course, even without that drive to protect their relationship, he’d still do anything to protect Yuri but he knew Yuri would have hated to hear that so he kept that hidden deep in his mind. There was some irrational part of him that felt as if Yuri would be able to read his feelings if they were too close to the surface.

He wouldn’t make the same mistake he’d made in the past. He wouldn’t watch Yuri die.

\---

“It’s small but this is my apartment,” Otabek said, opening his door. “And yours, for now.”

When he opened the door there was a small kitchen to the left of the door, just big enough to be used on a daily basis, and to the right a door that Yuri saw lead into a small bathroom. Farther into the room was a table with two chairs and behind that, an enclave that had two bed.

“Technically the top bunk is mine, but if you’d prefer that one I’m not partial to either.”

“I’m fine with whatever.” Yuri insisted. “Did you live here alone?”

“Umm, no,” Otabek said, following Yuri as he walked through the small apartment towards the beds. Each bed had a small nightstand-type area built into the wall and below the bottom bunk were two drawers, which Yuri assumed were for their clothes. “I had a roommate.”

Yuri looked around the bed and was surprised to see that it still seemed to be occupied. On the shelf inside the bunk was most toiletries but there was also a ring, a necklace, and a picture frame.

The picture frame was what caught Yuri’s eyes first because in it was Otabek maybe a year earlier, smiling slightly next to another young man. The other young man was tall and on the skinnier side, though it was easy to see he had muscles. He had sandy blond hair and a smattering of freckles. Yuri didn’t know what color his eyes were because he was smiling so widely that his eyes were closed, an arm thrown around Otabek and his mouth an open-mouthed smile, as if he’d been caught mid-laughter.

“Him?” Yuri asked, pointing to the picture.

“Yah…” Otabek leaned over the bed to clean off the shelf. “Sorry, I didn’t expect to have someone else living here so soon and I hadn’t gotten around to cleaning up yet.”

“It’s fine.” Yuri wanted to press but he could tell Otabek was unhappy. “What’s his name?”

“Cameron,” Otabek responded, putting the stuff down on the bed so he could search for a box. Once he found one he first opened the left drawer to pull out the old occupant’s clothes. Then he put the young man’s personal effects on top, carrying the box off towards the front of the apartment.

Yuri wanted to ask more, wanted to push harder, but found that he had nothing to ask. He didn’t know how to ask about someone who was either dead or gone. He didn’t know how to ask about someone who seemed to be a friend of Otabek’s and who was, probably, dead.

“If you’re tired, you can get a little sleep,” Otabek said from the front of the apartment. “You’ll want to be well rested for tomorrow. They’re probably going to work you pretty hard.”

“Why Twaight and not Kaila?” Yuri asked because that was an easy question.

“Twaight has one dedicated military lab,” Otabek said as he returned to the beds empty-handed. “You’ll be working there with The Capital’s foremost minds in military technology.” Yuri couldn’t help but chuckle at his words. “What?”

“Sorry, you just sound like an informational pamphlet,” Yuri smirked and rolled his eyes, “And I think that might be the most you’ve talked since we met.”

Otabek didn’t say anything, just snorting in response and heading back towards the front of the apartment. Yuri followed him this time, sitting down at the small table.

“Is this a standard military apartment?” He asked, looking around. He’d expected it to be small but this seemed like a little much for two people to be living in.

“Not exactly.” Otabek shrugged. “It’s really more barracks for cadets. Most soldiers who are done with training move into their own apartments.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Most people in Twaight come from a military family.” Otabek had his back to Yuri, busying himself by looking around the kitchen. “Most families have two or three apartments that get passed down to kids. People whose families aren’t from Twaight or who… don’t have families generally have a hard time finding apartments. Most of us elect to stay in the barracks, even if they’re a little suffocating.”

“Your parents…”

“They were in The Air Force too.” Otabek was just standing in the kitchen area now, still faced away from Yuri. His arms were hanging at his sides and his back was straight, his shoulders seeming too stiff. “They were doing recon over The Kalway Sea… General Feltsman came to tell me the bad news two weeks before I turned fifteen. They were never even found, they just lost contact. They weren't even supposed to be back for another week so I hadn’t been worried…”

“I’m sorry,” Yuri said softly when Otabek didn’t continue. “It’s hard to lose your parents…” Yuri laughed bitterly. “I was going to say I understand but it’s not the same. I don’t even remember my parents…” Yuri wanted to feel sad about losing them but always found only a melancholy sort of longing that he didn’t really think qualified as _sad_ , not really. Yuuri and Viktor were really the only parents he knew. “I can’t even imagine what it would be like to lose Dad and Papa.”

“I understand.” Part of Yuri wanted Otabek to turn and look at him but another part of him was afraid what he’d see. “My moms… they were my entire world. Twaight is a pretty tightly knit community and I was some strange little kid from Wealdstone who didn’t belong. My only friend growing up was the son of two of the people you met today. He’s the one who forged my documents. Pretty much everyone you met today knows I’m seventeen and the people who sent me on my mission knew I was seventeen. Nobody cared because they understood. I was an outsider who’d lost the only thread I had connecting me to a normal life here.”

Suddenly, Otabek fell silent. It was as if his lungs had reached the maximum amount of words for today or maybe he’d just reached the maximum information he’d tell Yuri about himself. Yuri thought Otabek was shaking slightly, still faced away from Yuri and motionless other than the slight shake in his shoulders.

“Otabek…”

Then he was in motion, moving back to the fridge as he started to pull things out.

“I’ll start making us something for dinner. We should eat then start getting ready for bed. I think we could both use some rest. We’ll be up early tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Yuri agreed, mostly because he didn’t know what else to say. He’d never had a friend, let alone one close enough for them to divulge so much personal information, and he had no clue how to proceed. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, Otabek didn’t seem to really know either. “That sounds good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LOL, I wrote this before nuclear war became a more real possibility so now it feels a little like I'm alluding to current events but that wasn't supposed to be the point.
> 
> \---
> 
> Also, I got literally no writing done today so I think I'm going to keep my Sun/M/W/F posting, so I'll finish next Mon. 
> 
> That kind works out because, for the Viktuuri Big Bang, I post on the 29th! I'm really excited for that so watch for it! The artist I'm paired with is so talented and such a sweetheart!!!


	11. Transition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Friends, family, and enemies. 
> 
> Respect, love, and hate.
> 
> You, me, and them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter I probably should have split in half... but, like, this and the next chapter were the reason I added another chapter to begin with.

General Baranovskya was the one to show Yuri to the correct lab and introduce him to the scientists he’d be working with. She seemed to have taken a liking to him if by taken a liking to he meant that she didn’t seem to hate him anymore.

“Will someone tell Kenjirou where I am?” Yuri asked. “He is supposed to… bring me something.”

“Someone will direct him,” She said. “Now, if we’re lucky we have until March to get this done so I hope you all do your best work starting now.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” One of the scientists said, the one who was supposed to be in charge of this project, nodding at her as she turned to leave.

Yuri was working with four scientists and he was glad to see that only two of them seemed to be giving him a look like he wasn’t worth their time. There were two young women and two young men whose names he’d already forgotten.

“I’m Sara.” One of them, the brown-haired lead scientist, introduced again. “And this is Emil, Mickey, and Sasha.”

Mickey and Sasha were the two that didn’t seem to like Yuri but he thought that Mickey might dislike everyone since his annoyed grimace remained on his lips even when he wasn’t looking at Yuri. Sasha, on the other hand, looked unimpressed.

“Yuri.” He responded. “We should get started. Show me what you have.”

He wished Otabek was here but they’d been met by General Baranovskya and Feltsman at the entrance to the lab and General Feltsman had taken Otabek somewhere else, saying he’d return later.

“Okay, sounds good!” Sara smiled, seeming genuinely excited about working with him, which surprised Yuri. “Let’s get to work!”

\---

It was about two hours later that someone asked Yuri to step outside for a moment, where he found an anxious-looking Kenjirou.

“Yuri!” He smiled but still looked anxious. “I was sort of worried they wouldn’t let me see you.”

“Me too.” Kenjirou walked over and hugged him, Yuri taking only a moment before returning the embrace. 

“How are you getting home?” Yuri asked, suddenly worried about Kenjirou.

“There’s a caravan to Alolk, then I’ll be on my own.”

“Alone?” Yuri pulled away to looked at Kenjirou with a look of concern he reserved for his family and nobody else. “Really?”

“It’s not as bad as it sounds.” Kenjirou smiled. “I am trained for this journey. But I’m not going to be alone.”

Yuri punched Kenjirou gently. “Why’d you make me worry then?”

Kenjirou laughed. “Sorry, wasn’t trying to imply anything. Just meant I would be without a caravan. But one of The Protectors from Kita was trying to get a ride back early because of a family matter so he’s going to ride with me from Alolk to Kita.”

“I’m glad.” Yuri smiled faintly. “Kenjirou?”

“What’s up?”

“Thanks… for everything.”

“It was nothing.” Kenjirou’s smile widened. “Just doing my job.”

“I wasn't just talking about this trip,” Yuri admitted, looking at the ground because he hated talking about how he felt. “I mean, the last few years you’ve really helped me out. Thank you.”

Kenjirou’s smiled softened even though Yuri wasn’t looking at it. “Like I said, just doing my job.”

“I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too.” Kenjirou pulled Yuri into another hug. “But we’ll see each other soon and when I see you again, you’ll be a hero.”

“I’m glad you think so.” Yuri tightened his grip on the back of Kenjirou’s shirt for only a moment, long enough for Kenjirou to notice but not anyone who might be looking on. “I… I love you.”

“Love you too.” Kenjirou pulled away, the tears in his eyes unsurprising to Yuri since he knew his brother was prone to tears. In the recent years, he’d gotten his tears more under control but he was still a big softie. The more surprising thing was the tears in Yuri’s own eyes, which Kenjirou noticed. “Aww, you’re crying.”

“Am not!” Yuri defended, wiping his eyes angrily. “You just wear too much aftershave, it makes my eyes water.”

Kenjirou laughed, “Okay, Yuri, sure. I’ll be sure to tell Papa and Dad that you totally weren’t crying.”

Yuri, because he didn’t have to pretend he was an adult all the time, stuck his tongue out at Kenjirou who did the same despite actually being an adult.

“Tell Dad and Papa I love them and I miss them.”

“You better call them every day starting tonight,” Kenjirou lectured. “You have privileges now, I bet you can get a dedicated phone line into Kita pretty easily.”

Yuri rolled his eyes and pushed Kenjirou a little, trying to tell him to leave before they both started doing more than tear up. If anything could make Yuri cry, it was Kenjirou crying.

“I will, I just want to make sure you tell them in person.”

“Of course.” Kenjirou looked like he wanted to stall their goodbyes more but both of them knew they had things to do and places to be. “You’ve grown up really fast, you know. Everyone in Kita is proud of you so never think you need to prove yourself. Even if the people you work with act like they’re better than you just remember that they don’t matter, okay?”

“I will.” Yuri took a breath, suddenly remembering what their Dad had said before they left, which Yuri had asked about later and found out was an old Caravanner goodbye. “Hey, I wish you cloudy skies and clear roads.”

Kenjirou looked surprised for a moment but then burst into a huge smile, putting a hand on Yuri’s shoulder while he looked ready to burst with excited energy.

“I wish you careless dreams and careful daydreams.” Kenjirou pulled Yuri into one more long, tight hug. “I love you, Yuri.”

“I love you too.” Yuri blinked away a few more tears, wishing he didn’t feel so young in this moment. “I’ll see you soon.”

\---

“But that makes no sense!” Mickey shouted, Emil and Sara on either side of him, trying desperately to calm him down.

“I’m just telling you how it fucking works!”

Yuri was seething. Everything he said and did was questioned by Mickey or Sasha and he was about to strangle one of them, probably Sasha because at least Mickey was vocal and obvious about his annoyance. Sasha had a quiet air of superiority that drove Yuri up a wall. The five of them had been working together for almost eight hours now, with the only break when Yuri went to go say goodbye to Kenjirou. It was somewhere around one in the afternoon now and none of them had stopped to eat lunch. Yuri saw it as a challenge and he wondered if they felt the same way.

As if she could hear his thoughts, Sara smiled at everyone. The look was strained and she was obviously not having much fun right now, her earlier good mood starting to become extremely strained.

“Why don’t we break for lunch? I think we could all use something to eat.”

“I’m fine to keep working.” Yuri looked directly at Sasha. “If you guys want to stop, though, I can keep working alone.”

“Oh, but we need someone here to make sure you don’t get lost.” Sasha smiled and Yuri before turning to look at Sara. “Sara, dear, if you’re hungry you are more than welcome to take a break. I’m fine, though.”

“I wasn’t–” For a moment Yuri saw Sara give Sasha a venomous look before her features returned to their placid, albeit slightly strained, look from earlier. “I’m fine, I just was wondering if we should take a break anyways.”

“We should probably get something done before we break,” Sasha countered. “We only have so much time to work.” Before Sara could say anything, Sasha turned back to look at Yuri’s blueprints for the reinvigorator. “Why don’t you tell us about these again? Maybe we just misunderstood what you said.”

Yuri would pay anything to punch that smug grin off her face.

\---

Emil, Mickey, and Sara left first at nine. They’d been in the lab for fifteen hours at that point. Sara and Emil had tried to get Yuri and Sasha to leave too, but both said they’d stay for a little longer.

A little longer turned into two more hours before, finally, General Baranovskya came and told them both that was enough for the day. When Yuri finished changing out of his lab attire, he found himself in a hallway with no one except Sasha.

“Good night, Sasha.” Yuri hoped he didn’t sound as stiff to Sasha as he did to his own ears. But, he guessed he might actually sound worse to her. “See you tomorrow.”

“Don’t think you’re big shit. You’re just some outer kid who was, I guess, fucking that robot pilot.”

“Excuse me?” Yuri blinked, open-mouthed at Sasha.

“You heard me. You’re not all that great. You’re only here because Feltsman’s favorite likes you. You have nothing and you’re just going to hold us back if you keep this up.”

“Do you really think we have the fucking time for whatever this is?” Yuri asked, genuinely baffled by Sasha’s anger towards him.

“Fuck you.” She glared at him, taking a few steps closer and showing herself to be a good couple of inches taller than him. “Stop pretending you’re so much better than us. You’re a fucking kid from a backcountry town full of dust-addled, suicidal dumbasses.”

“You should probably shut your fucking mouth.” Yuri’s face dropped into a contemptuous boredom. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re all just raider-fucking maniacs who’d eat your own children in a famine.” Yuri took another step towards her, weighing his options despite the fact that his only two options right now seemed to be punching her in the gut or the face. “You only care about yourself and would kill to stay alive–”

Yuri decided his only option was to punch her in the face.

Sasha dropped to the ground, surprised as she covered half of her face with her hands.

“You shouldn’t talk about thing you don’t understand.” Yuri’s contempt had only deepened. “My dads were ready to die to save me and my brother, to save everyone, when we almost starved. They fought alongside their friends and watched their friends die protecting them. They have lived through more than you capital fuckers could ever imagine and they’re stronger because of it. My birth parents died fighting to keep my home safe now I’m trying to help you do the same, hopefully without anyone having to die.”

Yuri turned, adrenaline still rushing through his veins as he walked away from Sasha.

“You don’t know shit!” She shouted after him but Yuri was determined to leave and felt more relief than he thought was possible with there was finally a door between him and Sasha.

\---

Yuri left with Otabek for his apartment and when they got back, Yuri knew he wasn’t going to be able to sleep just yet. Otabek had noticed his bothered energy but he didn’t comment on it, not wanting to push too hard and not really know how to even do so.

“Hey, does this building have a roof?” Yuri asked when they started up the stairs. Otabek lived on the sixth floor of this building, the top floor, but he explained that their elevator didn’t work very well and would often get stuck so instead he, and most people, used the stairs. Yuri had been more than a little irked by that, not because he couldn’t climb a couple of floors but he wondered if these people cared at all about people who couldn’t.

Then again, his life experience was a little different than most people’s in that respect.

“Yah, we aren’t technically supposed to go up there but nobody follows those rules.”

“I can’t sleep yet.” Yuri offered, giving that as the extent of his request and explanation.

Otabek nodded and lead Yuri up to the roof, both of them taking a seat silently on the ground. Yuri understood now what Otabek had meant when he thought there had been a lot of stars in Northpass. In Twaight there were almost no stars to speak of and even the ones Yuri could see were hard to name because they were so dim and lonely.

“I think if I ever end up in Kaila I’ll miss the sky,” Yuri said, feeling strangely like he’d never reach the heights he’d always assumed he would. He knew this was just a low point and that soon he’d be fine but right now he felt like he had no chance here or in Kaila. “And my family.”

“The reason I decided to become a pilot was that that’s what my moms were.” Otabek’s voice was quiet, barely audible even though he and Yuri were only inches apart. “But it was the stars and the night sky that made me really want it. Cameron was the one to show them to me and he told me about how many more stars there were outside The Capital Complex.”

“Was Cameron your age?”

“Yes and no.” Otabek smiled very slightly, the expression unnoticed by Yuri who was only looking at Otabek out of the corner of his eye. “Officially we were, but obviously my official age isn’t exactly correct. He was my roommate from day one, though, and he basically got me through basic training. He was from Eriden, another of the few cadets not from Twaight, so we ended up staying here together even after we graduated. He would tell me about how many stars there were to see in Eriden. I think there are more there than Northpass, maybe even as many as Kita.”

“He… he sounds like he was a good person.”

“He taught me to love the stars.” Otabek’s eyes were closed like he didn’t want to see the stars anymore. His face was pained but his voice was placid like nothing affected him anymore even if Yuri suspected that was just a front. “He taught me to love the sky.”

“I’m glad you had someone.” Yuri knew he would never have done as much as he had without the support of his family.

“Me too.”

They stayed on the roof for a while longer, both silent as they stared at the few stars visible and the tiny sliver of moon that was making its way low across the sky. When Yuri got up, Otabek followed suit without saying anything and they both headed back inside to sleep without even eating a very late dinner.

\---

When Yuri arrived at the lab the next day he walked in on a fuming Sara, who was nearly shouting at Emil and Mickey.

“–why I said she shouldn’t be on this team! But why would they listen to me? I’ve only worked on this project and with a majority of the military science department for years, what would I know?”

“Sara, calm down.” For once, Mickey was calm and trying to stop Sara from losing it too much. “We don’t need her.”

“How dare she ask to be a part of this then drop out the moment she doesn't get her way.”

Emil was the first person to see Yuri walk in.

“Good morning, Yuri.”

“Morning…” He looked around. “Is… did something happen?”

“Sasha dropped out because she’s a b–” Sara started, but Mickey quickly interrupted her.

“Sasha asked to be transferred last night.” He rolled his eyes. “Something about a hostile working environment.”

“I’ll show her a hostile working environment,” Sara muttered, the murderous look Yuri had seen for a moment yesterday now plain on her face.

“I think that might have been my fault,” Yuri admitted. “I won’t let this set us back–”

“Fuck that,” Sara interrupted. “We didn’t need her anyways.”

“Oh.” Yuri blinked, surprised that Sara seemed to dislike Sasha this much. It was almost scary to see how quickly she turned from quiet politeness to aggressive hatred.

“Why don’t we get started.” Emil offered, looking paler than usual. “How about today we show you what we have?”

\---

Otabek met Yuri for lunch and they went to a small café near the lab, eating sandwiches in silence for a while.

“One of the scientists dropped out of the project.” Yuri finally said, feeling odd since he hadn’t actually told Otabek about what had happened the night before.

“Really?”

“She didn’t like me.” Yuri shrugged. “I never knew people in The Capital hated people from The Outer Region so much.”

“Not everyone does.”

Yuri snorted, “Obviously.”

“I just meant that a lot of people don’t care. Twiaght and Kaila are the most insular cities, though, and there are a lot of people in them that don’t like anyone who they see as an outsider. And people from both don’t really have high views of Caravanners so they’re not really fans of people from Outer Region cities.”

“I noticed that. Sasha had some choice words for me last night.”

Otabek was quiet for a long time, frowning at the table. “Is that why you were upset last night?”

“You could tell?”

“I wasn’t sure if you wanted to talk about it.”

“Yah, she was just being a bitch.” Yuri smirked, “I punched her though, so I guess that’ll show her that she shouldn’t mess with Outer Region savages.”

Otabek snorted, huffing out a half laugh. “You seriously punched her?”

Yuri shrugged. “She was insulting my family.”

Otabek thought for a moment before launching into a quiet story.

“I get that. One time, during training, someone insulted Cameron and I got in a pretty bad fight with him. Black eye, split lip, and a cut on my forehead by the time someone broke it up.” Otabek smirked, mirroring Yuri. “The other guy was much worse off.”

“Cameron… he was family, wasn’t he?”

Otabek’s smirk fell and he looked sad, his eyes holding a lot of uncertainty. He hated talking about himself if he was completely honest. He didn’t really know how to be vulnerable and it made him want to stay closed off. It was why he’d ended up with maybe three friends his entire life.

But Yuri put him at ease like his moms or like Cameron had. He felt comfortable and safe. Maybe it was because he thought Yuri was like him: scared of being honest and scared of being scared.

“When I said that I was jealous of what you and Kenjiriou had… that was only half the truth. What I really meant was I was jealous because I’d had that and lost it. Cameron was like a brother to me and now he’s gone.”

“What happened?”

“My mission was to go over the mountains and find out what The Others were planning. I was there with Cameron and I learned too much, I think. I learned that they speak the same language as us and that they call themselves Sapóly and they call us The Country of Fire. The Others War is The War of Fire and they call it the desert, not the wasteland. It’s all so similar but also different. They’re afraid of us and they have a desertification bomb that they plan to use so we can’t do the same to them.” Otabek looked upset, the information he learned on his last mission seeming to finally be sinking in even as it was spilling out of him. “They’re just like us, really. We’re fighting a war that none of us remember the reasons for and we’re both terrified of each other for reasons none of us really understand. They killed Cameron when they found us but I don’t hate them because we would do the same. They terrify me but I can’t hate them.”

“You were undercover?” Yuri’s mind was reeling from the rush of new information. “Why? I don’t– what?”

“I was sent because I had almost no connections. Cameron was sent because they needed two people to go and he was the only person I had any real connection to anymore. It’s my fault he’s dead because he should never have been there to begin with. And he died for me.” Otabek sucked in a loud, shaky breath as the past six months finally hit him. “He died because Sapóly is just like us.”

“Otabek,” Yuri reached a hand out to touch Otabek’s shoulder. It was a light touch but Otabek still flinched. “Take a breath.”

Otabek obeyed, taking a long breath while Yuri kept their gazes locked together.

“You’re okay now.”

“It just doesn’t make any sense.”

“Why would this make sense?” Yuri asked, smiling bitterly. “Even in the beginning there was no logic in this war, so why would you think there’d be any a hundred years later?”

Otabek sighed, his shoulders falling but not losing their tightness. “I guess you’re right.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll figure out the barrier. They won’t be able to hurt us.”

“What if we try to do the same to them?”

“That’s out of our hands.” Yuri wasn’t sure how he felt about Aceel possibly attacking The Others, attacking Sapóly.

“I guess you’re right.” Otabek tried to smile but it didn’t succeed. “You should probably get back to work.”

“Yah… probably.”

They stayed at that café for a little longer, liking the easy quiet between them as they tried their best not to think too hard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Sasha, just meant to be a ball of hate. That said, in my brain, she has an entire backstory that explains why she sucks but... Well, this fic ain't about her. 
> 
> Also, bet y'all didn't expect Sara, Mickey, and Emil to be big parts of this fic. Guess what? Neither did I! Guess I have to add them to the character list?


	12. Burning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If The Other's didn't burn them up, his heart would.

When another barrier failed under their stress test, Yuri let out an aggravated shout and knocked some papers off his table.

“Fuck!”

He couldn’t figure out what was wrong with this damn barrier. They’d been able to transfer the protective barrier into the blueprints for Yuri’s reinvigorator but once it got to a certain surface area, it would stop being able to protect against even the slightest of hits.

Sara was pinching the bridge of her nose not far off while Mickey glared at his papers, looking desperately for the incorrect math or misplaced circuit that would explain their problems.

“It’s not powerful enough,” Emil said. He was the only one who didn’t look completely defeated, though he was starting to move towards that feeling.

“But how do we fix that?” Sara asked. “Upping the power didn’t work and even if it did, we wouldn’t be able to power one big enough to protect The Capital Complex.”

“We’ve made a lot of progress in two weeks, though.” Emil pointed out. “We’ll get there.”

“We don’t have time for that!” Yuri jumped in, bending over to pick up the papers he’d knocked off the table. “We should start over completely. That’s the only way we’ll figure out what’s wrong. You three should work on shaping and projecting the field and I’ll work on the field itself. Maybe then we’ll see what’s wrong.”

“Do we really have time for _that_?” Mickey asked, looking incredulous. “It took a team of six almost three months to figure out the basics of the protection field.”

“I understand the basics of it so I’m not starting from zero.” Yuri neatened his desk, pulling out some new paper. “And I’m sure the three of you can do the projection and shaping.”

“One of us should work with you.” Sara pointed out, “So it’s more even.”

“No,” Yuri was barely paying attention to them now. “We need everyone to start fresh.”

Sara and Mickey started to argue but Emil waved them away.

“Why don’t we get started on that projection and shaping?”

Yuri looked up briefly to nod at Emil, who gave him a smile and a thumbs up.

\---

When Otabek got no call about Yuri leaving the lab even as the night moved towards midnight, Otabek started to get worried and decided to head over. Usually, Generals Feltsman or Baranovskya would call when Yuri left, one of them always on duty in the lab, but tonight there had been no call.

He arrived at the lab at almost half past midnight, finding most of the building dark when he scanned his ID card. The main hallway’s lights came to life when he entered and he slowly made his way through the empty, sterile hallways. Buildings like this always gave him an uneasy feeling but he suspected it was because he’d never spent much time in them except for when he needed to go see a doctor or before his last mission when he and Cameron needed to be outfitted for both a long flight and a spy mission.

He didn’t have a lot of great memories of places like this.

In the area where Feltsman or Baranovskya would usually be sitting and monitoring the progress in Yuri’s labs, the lights were off and Otabek wondered where they could be. The lab itself had lights on and when he looked into the room, he saw that Yuri was alone at one of the tables, his face close to the papers he was writing on.

Otabek didn’t have card access to this room so he knocked on the window, Yuri nearly falling off his chair before looking over towards Otabek. He sighed when he saw who it was, getting up to open the door.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Nobody called,” Otabek said, not following Yuri inside.

“I was still doing work.” Yuri shrugged. “We had to start from scratch and I wanted to get more done tonight.”

“You need to sleep.” Otabek almost reached out to grab Yuri’s arm but didn’t. If Yuri really didn’t want to leave, he wasn’t going to force him. “It’s past midnight.”

“I’m not done yet.” The bags under Yuri’s eyes were more noticeable in the lab’s lighting than anywhere else. He looked haggard and Otabek was concerned about him.

“You won’t be any use if you’re exhausted.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re supposed to be back here at seven. Just come get a few hours of sleep.” Yuri started to argue but Otabek sighed and put a hand up. “Please?”

Yuri bit his lip, not wanting to leave but not wanting to worry Otabek. Obviously, Otabek was already worried because Yuri wasn’t sure he’d ever seen this much concern in Otabek’s face. He knew it was irresponsible to have lied to General Feltsman by telling him he’d already called Otabek to pick him up but Yuri needed to get some more calculations done.

There were a lot of people who thought Yuri was smart because he was just smart and he was fine with that assumption. The truth, which his dads and Kenjirou knew, was that he worked hard. He didn’t know how to not work hard, at least when it came to things he cared about. He knew he had a tendency to keep working and working and working until he burnt himself out, but that didn’t mean he was going to stop. It hadn’t failed him, it was how he’d done as well as he had, and so he never saw a reason to doing anything different. His reinvigorator hadn’t been ready to use when The Famine Raid happened and he’d worked tirelessly after it to get it working. He’d skipped meals and sleep and it had paid off. He’d saved his family and his town and he would do it again.

But Otabek looked so worried. Yuri had gotten used to the looks that Dad and Papa and Kenjirou gave him. He was good at ignoring their concern and he was good at pretending he wasn’t hurting them by destroying himself like he did. But Otabek… he rarely seemed concerned about anything, or at least he didn’t show it. But when concern did write itself plainly across his features, Yuri found he felt a sort of weakness he wasn’t used to. He felt suddenly like caving to whatever Otabek wanted.

“Okay.” Yuri sighed. “Fine.”

He wouldn’t admit it out loud, or even really in his head for that matter, but Yuri suspected that part of that weakness was because of the growing burning in his heart that he felt when he was with Otabek.

\---

Over the next few days, Otabek made sure to get to the labs early to force Yuri back to the apartment. Yuri seemed a little annoyed at first but quickly accepted Otabek wasn’t going to stop. He did start bringing some work back to the apartment, which seemed to be a good middle ground for them. Otabek reasoned that if Yuri was at least in the apartment, he could make sure Yuri was eating meals and could make him go to bed if he seemed overly tired.

They spent a lot of quiet time together that Otabek at first thought was similar to the time he spent with Cameron. But as the days went by, he found the feeling was different, even if he couldn’t place why.

There were nights where they’d both be unable to sleep even when they both wanted to — which didn’t happen much but sometimes Yuri realized he needed sleep — and they’d silently go up to the roof. Both of them found their nighttimes consumed by concerns and regrets so sleep was hard to come by. Yuri, especially, found that his despite everything, his nightmares about Kenjirou dying on the road still found their way into his sleep.

Even if it was cloudy, they’d stare at the sky until one of them finally felt like they might be able to sleep, then they went back downstairs.

They rarely talked about what was bothering them but a March rapidly approached, there were the occasionally shared words. They happened a lot when both Otabek and Yuri were tired and watching the sky, the darkness seeming to protect them from the vulnerability they were both afraid of.

Yuri talked about how terrified he was of not being smart enough, about not being the best. He talked about how afraid he was that he’d lose his family. He even told Otabek about how his nightmare about Kenjirou still hadn’t passed. Otabek talked about how alone he felt all the time. He told Yuri about how guilty he still felt about Cameron’s death. He confessed how cheated he always felt by the world.

Neither of them addressed the mutual burning in their chests.

One night, the Friday before the last week of February, Otabek came home late from a meeting. He was exhausted because General Feltsman insisted on continuing to talk Otabek through what happened in Sapóly even though Otabek just wanted to forget. If he was lucky, thinking about the mission would make Otabek think about the possibility of spies in Aceel. If he was unlucky, which was usually what he was, he’d find his mind starting to spiral down towards an inevitable crash.

When he got back tonight, it was past eleven, he found the lights were still on, the reason for why becoming immediately apparent.

Yuri was asleep at the kitchen table, laid out across the papers he’d brought back from the lab and snoring a little. Otabek put his bag down, smiling a little when he saw Yuri had started to drool a little onto his papers. He didn’t want to admit it but that burning in his chest got worse when he looked at Yuri sleeping at the kitchen table.

Otabek shook his head, trying and failing to dispel the feeling before he carefully pulled Yuri out of the chair and carried him to the bunks. It took some amount of maneuvering since the entrance to the bunks wasn’t very large but eventually, Otabek safely transported Yuri to bed. He’d forgotten to pull back the covers beforehand but, luckily, Yuri never made his bed in the morning.

“Good night.” Otabek murmured once he’d pulled the covers over Yuri, smiling at him one last time before he left to get himself ready for bed too.

He stopped for a moment to look at Yuri’s notes and found there was a detailed picture on one of them that was labeled as ‘The Solution.’

Thinking about how the information he brought back could possibly point to an early March attack, Otabek sure hoped this was the solution.

\---

Yuri finished fixing his new prototype on the Sunday of the last week of February. He was so busy working that he didn’t even find himself thinking about his upcoming birthday. Instead, all he could do was pray over and over again for this prototype to work.

Sara, Emil, and Mickey had been able to make a more efficient projection algorithm and Yuri was pretty sure he’d solved the strength issue with the shielding but this was the first test of their new design and he was terrified, to say the least. If this didn’t work, there was a good chance they wouldn’t have time to try again.

The top military leaders must have been informed of exactly that because they were all in attendance that Sunday, all scrunched into the control room that usually only housed one or two people. General Baranovskya and General Feltsman were both inside the actual lab. Yuri couldn’t tell if that was because they were technically the heads of this program or if it was because Yuri had seemingly become their pet project.

Yuri had noticed that since he got here, both Generals had become more and more friendly with him. Neither was ever _that_ friendly, but he suspected that was because neither was ever very friendly. But General Baranovskya would nod in approval at what he did more than for anyone else and Yuri swore he saw actual pride in General Feltsman’s eyes recently.

Otabek was also in attendance inside the lab because Yuri had insisted he be there. Mostly, Yuri wanted the emotional support in case things went poorly. And he wanted Otabek to know right away if things went well.

“Emil, start the camera,” Sara commanded. She was the scientist heading this project so she was in charge of any official testing. When Emil gave her a thumbs up, she continued. “Shielding test, second prototype, stress test one. Hemisphere with five-meter diameter.”

The lab they worked in usually felt empty and strange to Yuri. It was purposefully built large for this exact type of testing. There was a lot of empty space and the ceilings were built high so large projects could be tested. They would work up to it, but the room would be able to accommodate up to a diameter sixty meters. In their past tests, they’d never been able to get any prototype to pass the stress test with a diameter over ten meters.

The first test went perfectly, not that they’d expected anything different. Next up was ten meters, which went fine again. It was the fifteen-meter test that would be the real challenge. If this didn’t work, they were completely screwed because they’d taken all that time for nothing. If it did work then… maybe they were onto something.

“Shielding test, second prototype, stress test three.” Everyone was tense but Yuri thought Sara might be the one worst off, which surprised him. Then again, he’d come to find that she took her position as lead scientist very seriously. If this went poorly, she probably planned to take the blame for its failure. “Hemisphere with fifteen-meter diameter.”

Yuri put in the necessary measurements to put out the fifteen-meter test size then they held their breath as Sara pressed the buttons to start a stress test.

“Level one passed.” She said, sounding on edge was like she was starting to feel excited, her eyes glued to the current display as the test cycled through each level. There were five levels, from easiest to hardest and the best they’d done is fifteen meters up to level two. “Level two passed.” Everyone held their breath. “Level three passed.” There was obvious glee in her voice but she still kept herself mostly together, even as people in the booth were sighing with relief. “Level four passed. Level five passed.” When the test ended, she wasn’t as able to keep the happy shout from her voice as Mickey came over and hugged his sister tightly. “Fifteen-meter diameter is a success!”

There were cheers from the control room and everyone in the lab was happy but after a few moments of breathing easier they all looked at each other and nodded. They wouldn’t celebrate until they reached the max testing diameter. Even if that worked, they were still looking at making five of these machines that would each have to work over an area over ten times as large as the maximum testing diameter.

It wasn’t like they had any other choice, though.

“Twenty-meter diameter is a success.”

Sara felt a little light headed and she realized she was holding her breath.

“Thirty-meter diameter is a success.”

Emil had never felt this anxious before in his entire life.

“Forty-meter diameter is a success.”

Mickey was pretty sure he stopped breathing around then.

“Fifty-meter diameter is a success.”

Otabek suddenly felt less guilty about his entire mission. If he hadn’t crash-landed outside of Kita, this might never have happened.

“Sixty-meter diameter is a success.” Sara was crying, doing her best to keep herself together but failing. “Thus concludes the shielding tests of our second prototype. Next step will be field testing.”

Emil clicked off the camera and shrieked, throwing himself onto Mickey and for a moment Yuri thought they were hugging but slowly he realized Emil had actually kissed Mickey. Sara laughed, shouting something at them about how it was about time while everyone else looked away and congratulated the others around them. The control room was abuzz with excitement. Generals Feltsman and Baranovskya looked at each other like they were actually considering a hug. Yuri ran over to Otabek and threw himself onto the other young man, giving him a tight bear hug because right now he didn’t have time to think about professionalism or appearances or anything as suddenly meaningless as how he thought he should act.

“Yuri, you did it!” Otabek was basically shouting, at least by his standards. His voice still wasn’t all that loud, but there was an obvious raising of the volume and it was laced with excitement.

“We did, all of us,” Yuri said, burying his face into Otabek’s shoulder. “I can’t believe it worked.”

Otabek laughed a quiet, relieved laugh. “I knew you would figure it out.”

Yuri couldn’t help but smile into Otabek’s shoulder, happy about the success and about Otabek’s belief in him and also the warmth of Otabek’s arms around him.

“Thanks.” Yuri didn’t even spend a moment thinking about all the ways this could still go wrong. “Thank you so much.”

\---

They set up the first finished machine in Towen since it was the seat of government for Aceel.

It was hard for the bigger cities like Towen because they had to make the diameter a terrifyingly large number. A one-kilometer diameter for Towen nearly made Yuri faint when he input the information.

After Towen came Twaight since, they reasoned, that was where it had been built.

For each city, they have to find somewhere approximately at ground level and in the center of the city. The more off-center, the large the diameter has to be and the more likely something would break.

From Twaight, they traveled to Kaila since it seemed like the reasonable next city. It was either that of Kalen next and there was no way military people were going there next.

Yuri didn’t really like being back in Kaila but he knew he’d have to get over those feelings if he ever wanted to go there for school. Right now, though, he wanted to finish setting these up and get back to Twaight.

Next was Owea, the smallest city in The Capital Complex and the one that had the least terrifying numbers to input. It was still almost a hundred times larger than the maximum test.

He missed his family but knew it would be a little while before he could see them again. In place of them, he missed Otabek. Or maybe Yuri missed Otabek in addition to missing his family?

Lastly was Kalen. The Caravanners were very nice to everyone even though the military personnel accompanying them was gruff and less than cordial.

Sara stayed in Kalen because, as Yuri learned, she actually had a caravanner girlfriend. Apparently, her girlfriend was a Protector on the Western Road, the next most dangerous stretch after the Northern Road.

While they were in Kalen, someone stopped Yuri to say she knew Kenjirou and wanted to say that all the Caravanners who knew him were really proud of Yuri. It felt nice.

Even so, Yuri was happy to head back to Twaight even if the city’s drabness was still a bit jarring. When Yuri saw Otabek waiting for him to return, he couldn’t help but smile.

“I’m glad you’re back, Yuri.” Otabek smiled at Yuri once they found a quiet hallway where they could be alone for a little before they both had final meetings to go to.

“I’m glad to be back,” He admitted. “Any news about when the attacks will happen?”

Otabek nodded. “The earliest Sapóly seems to think they can launch an attack on March 1st. Since they know there was a spy in their country, we think they’ll launch as soon as possible.”

“March 1st, huh?” Otabek nodded and Yuri didn’t even mention that was his birthday.

He wasn’t sure why he didn’t. Maybe it was because he felt bad. He always felt strange telling people when his birthday was because it felt like a request for something. Not that he had many times when that would even come up.

He decided to tell Otabek later.

Yuri sighed, blinking as exhaustion finally fell over him. They had two days until March 1st and Yuri sort of wanted to spend those days sleeping. He also realized that he’d only called home twice, both brief calls that were more just check-ins, so he knew he should make a real call before the attack.

Another thing Yuri wanted to do in the next two days was figure out what he wanted to do about his ever-growing crush on Otabek. He’d stopped trying to pretend it wasn’t there, the few days apart telling him everything he needed to know.

“It’s a good thing we figured this out when we did, I guess.” Yuri smiled and Otabek smiled back. “Otabek… I really am happy to be back in Twaight.”

“Yuri…” Otabek seemed suddenly uncertain.

“Yah?”

“I was thinking… we’re pretty good friends, right?”

“I’d say so.” Yuri sort of hated how his heart skipped a beat when Otabek blushed slightly.

“Then why don’t you call me Beka… it is my nickname.”

Yuri felt his own face turn hot as he tried to stutter out a response.

“I– umm… well, I guess–” He took a deep breath. “That sounds good.” He looked down, blushing harder than he wanted to. “But you should call me Yura, then.”

“Oh,” Otabek smiled sheepishly. “Sure… that sounds good.”

They were both blushing messes who couldn’t speak to each other now and when General Feltsman found them to ask if they wanted to go to lunch, he rolled his eyes at them.

He shook his head. “Teenagers.”

That only made them blush more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you forgot that this is, technically, an Otayuri fic then... well, here's this chapter haha


	13. The Calm Before the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They stood together side by side and everything was simple for a moment. The future, the past, the consequences of their world—none of it mattered because, for this moment, things were okay.

In the eastern city of Eriden, a blond man sat leaned up against a brown-haired man while they watched the sky. Unlike some of the younger Caravanners in their city, they weren’t out as spotters tonight. Because of their seniority, they had been assigned daytime spotting. March 1st was the first day of official Aceel-wide spotting assignments but nobody had seen anything arrive from the North. Now, it was the night of the 1st, really the morning of the 2nd, and neither man could sleep. Instead, they watched the sky because if their world was going to end they were going to watch it happen.

Chris wondered about his childhood friend who lived in Kita now and about his former coworkers who were scattered across Aceel after their collective retirements.

He leaned farther into his husband’s side, thinking fondly about those days on the roads, especially the nearly ill-fated northern push. To think, after so much progress it might be destroyed by strangers everyone feared for reasons they couldn’t name.

“Do you think this is the end?” He asked. “After everything, is this the end?”

“They say that The Capital is protected.” His husband responded. “I’m sure we’ll be fine, no matter what.”

Chris didn’t have anything else to say, both men electing to continue with their silence instead.

\---

A brown-haired man sat alone on the roof of a bar in the far western Stonefair. He had a radio next to him in case he needed to call in any missiles spotted in the night sky. With his rank among Caravanners, he could have easily taken an earlier posting but Phichit loved the night.

A head of black hair popped out from an open hatch on the roof, a box held miraculously in his hand despite the fact that he had to climb a ladder to get to the bar’s roof.

“I brought something to eat.” He said, his usually monotone voice holding a certain amount of softness that only Phichit was allowed to hear. “Dinner was a long time ago.”

“Has everyone left?” Phichit asked, accepting the food.

“I let them stay. People want to drink tonight in case it’s really the end of the world.” Seung-gil sat next to Phichit, looking up at the starry sky above them.

“We’ll be fine. Twaight might be full of idiots, but Yuuri told me his youngest son was working with the scientists on their shielding.”

“So a child is working with them?”

Phichit laughed, talking through the sandwich he was eating. “He’s supposed to be a genius. And, come on, age doesn’t equal competence. Look at the entire second-generation.”

“I’m pretty sure you were all stupid, not competent.”

“Mean,” Phichit said, not heat behind the word. “Stupid or not, it got me here.”

Seung-gil snorted and they fell silent, Phichit eating his late night snack and both of them shivering slightly as a cool breeze picked up.

\---

Bluemill was a quiet town that only picked up the pace when a caravan came through. Tonight was different, though, because of the air that impending doom in the air.

Two brown-haired young men were sitting on top of the Caravanner office, backs pressed together as they watched different parts of the sky. To their one side was a radio so they could quickly call in any sightings. On their other side, their hands were overlapping each other, their fingers threading and unthreading themselves from each other as they sat in silence.

Guang Hong was in charge of the western sky and Leo was in charge of the eastern sky, both watching in silent fear for what seemed like their inevitable doom. Neither of them had great faith in Twaight’s assertion that they were ready for any attack so they didn’t even try to speak. Instead, they enjoyed each other’s company for as long as they still could.

\---

In Kita, Kenjirou was doing his best to not think about why he was out with a radio close at hand. He was trying really hard to pretend this was just another training exercise and not the possible end of Aceel. He was trying hard to remember that Yuri was confident in the shielding.

“Kenjirou.” He turned quickly and sighed when he saw it was just Yuuri. “You’ve been out for a while.”

“We don’t have a lot of people.” He shrugged. “And it’s not like I’d be sleeping anyway.”

“Fair.” Yuuri nodded, sitting down next to Kenjirou and offering him a cookie. “Papa has been baking all day.”

Kenjirou laughed. “He’s going to use all his luxury rations in a day.”

“I think he wanted to make up for not getting to bake a cake for Yuri.”

Kenjirou’s smiled dropped. “He’ll be back.”

“Unless they keep him in Kaila,” Yuuri pointed out. “Now that he’s done this, they might offer him early acceptance.”

Kenjirou shrugged, realizing he didn’t have anything to say in response. He wanted Kaila to accept Yuri as a student but he also wanted his brother back, just for a little longer. Their trip to The Capital Complex had been stressful and Kenjirou wanted a little longer with Yuri, a few more memories not tainted with the fear of death.

“He didn’t even call to let us wish him a happy birthday.” Kenjirou finally pointed out.

“He’d just called us.” Yuuri was smiling despite everything and Kenjirou wasn’t sure how his Dad was keeping up this optimism. “You know how sixteen-year-olds are.”

Kenjirou laughed, about to respond when his eyes caught something on the northern horizon. His laughter fizzled and he picked up the radio.

“Protector Minami reporting in, foreign objects spotted on the northern horizon. Initial assessment is 6 missiles headed south. Over.”

“I’ll call it in.” It was Yuuto’s voice that responded and something about that was comforting. “Thanks, Kenjirou. Over and out.”

\---

In a small apartment in Kalen, two young women lounged on a couch together. The taller of the two, a young red-headed Caravanner, was sitting back with her eyes closed. The other woman, Sara, sat with her back against her girlfriend’s chest, reading aloud from a book in her lap.

Mila liked to keep her apartment cold so Sara had a blanket over her lap and was wearing a sweatshirt that was just a little too big on her. Mila always offered to turn up the temperature when Sara came to visit but Sara would never take her up on the offer, partially so she didn’t feel like she was imposing but mostly because she liked any excuse to spend hours cuddled close to Mila.

Sara was mid-sentence when the alarms started blaring. She stopped reading, tilting her head back to look at Mila for only a moment before looking back down at the book and continuing the story. 

Other than Sara’s voice and the sirens the apartment was quiet, which to say that it was loud and full of noise. Even so, it felt quiet because it was just the two of them, a good story, and a reminder that this could be the end.

Neither of them talked about the blaring alarms. They both enjoyed each other’s warmth instead.

\---

Otabek was woken by the blaring of sirens, surprised he’d been able to fall asleep at all. It was nearly two in the morning on the 2nd when he rolled out of bed, losing his balance when he hit the ground and falling, a groan escaping him when he hit the ground. He was surprised when Yuri didn’t stir only to look up and realize the lower bunk was empty.

He walked out into the kitchen but didn’t see Yuri there either, finally heading towards the roof as he prayed that Yuri was there.

“Hey.” He said when he got to the roof. His voice was louder than usual because of the loud alarms and it felt strange to him. He wasn’t really someone who raised his voice.

“Hey.” Yuri turned to smile at Otabek. “What’s up?”

“Can’t sleep with these alarms going off.” He walked over to stand near Yuri as the shields started to go up around Twaight. In the distance he could see shields going up over the other cities, the sight not nearly comforting as it should have been. “We should really get to the bunkers downstairs, we’ll be safer there.”

“If the field doesn’t hold, I’d rather face death head-on,” Yuri admitted.

Otabek stared at Yuri for a long time as he looked towards the sky, seeming to be watching the stars instead of the shield. The city’s lights glinted off Yuri’s green eyes and Otabek was struck with the hard fearlessness of them. They were truly like a soldier’s eyes even though Yuri was anything but. They were like the eyes Cameron had when they tried to escape Sapóly. They were the eyes he’d seen on his moms’ faces during official business. They were the eyes he hoped people saw on his face.

“I think I’m going to go back to Kita after this.”

“Really?”

“I’ll finish high school, spend some time with my family.” He didn’t look at Otabek as he spoke. “I miss them already and I guess… I guess I never realized how much they mean to me. I’ll apply to Kaila like everyone else; when everyone else does. I’ll probably be accepted. I helped design these shields, after all.”

“You’ll get in no matter what,” Otabek agreed, unable to take his eyes off of Yuri.

“Since I won’t be here, tell me when your birthday is. So I can call or whatever.”

“October 31st.” Otabek felt odd but he couldn’t place why. “What about you.”

“Oh, umm…” Yuri looked suddenly uncertain, looking away from the sky so he could stare at the ground. “Don’t worry about that.”

“Why?”

“No reason.”

“Yura?”

Yuri’s face turned a little red but he finally murmured, “March 1st.”

“What? It was yesterday? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Seemed like bad timing.” He shrugged.

“Well… happy late birthday.”

“Thanks.”

“What do you want for your birthday?” Otabek asked. “We could go somewhere tomorrow or something.”

Yuri tilted his head up to look at Otabek, uncertainty in his ever-reddening face. As the shields finished the process of protecting Twaight, Yuri took a step towards Otabek before perching on his toes and planting a small, chaste kiss onto Otabek lips. He quickly pulled away to look back at the sky.

“They’re here.” He said, both of them able to see the faint sight of missiles approaching from the north. “Let’s see how this goes.”

Otabek could only nod dumbly, confused and flustered even as Yuri seemed unaffected.

His mind wasn’t even clear enough for him to call a prayer to his new god, instead his mind focused on the lingering warmth on his dry lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love this chapter, mostly because I love vignette type writing haha


	14. Time Enough to Fly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We had time enough to fall,   
> The day we first met.
> 
> We had time enough to fail,  
> When we were first there.
> 
> We had times enough to lose,  
> All those months ago.
> 
> Now we have time enough to fly,  
> And I'll never leave your side.

The feeling of Yuri’s feet slapping on pavement was a comforting feeling as he ran towards home, doing his best not to lose the papers clasped tightly in his hands. Normally he’d simply cut through the back of the school to get home, but running through the sandy wasteland that encompassed most of Kita was hard to do. Instead, he followed the roads, only cutting through the Nishigori’s yard since their back door was connected to the Katsuki house by a well-kept pavement path.

He burst in through the back, out of breath but more excited than he’d been in a while. He’d been working during the midterm break at the high school to keep himself busy and make a little money.

“Woah, where’s the fire?” Takeshi was the first person to see Yuri run inside.

“I have good news,” He gasped out. “The principal called me into the office.”

“And that’s good news?” Kenjirou joked. “What, did you win the ‘most times called to the office’ award?”

“You’re hilarious.” Yuri finally was able to get his breathing under control. “Where’s Papa?”

“I’m here.” Viktor appeared, partially covered in flour. “What’s up.”

Yuri looked around the room, looking at the people gathered for his birthday party. Kenjirou was here and had gotten here early, coming over from his own apartment hours before the start of the party. Then again, he was still here a lot of the time anyway to ‘check up on’ Yuuri and Viktor so it wasn't that strange that he'd arrived early. Yuuko, Takeshi, and Loop—their only daughter still living in Kita—were in attendance as well. Yuuri and Viktor were looking at Yuri expectantly, smiles on their faces as they waited for Yuri’s news.

“Kaila accepted me!”

The room exploded into noise and congratulations, everyone taking turns to pull Yuri into too tight hugs. Takeshi and Yuuko seemed to be crying a little, talking about how kids grow up so fast. Viktor was crying too, but he cried a lot so Yuri was used to it.

Once everyone quieted down, Yuuri and Viktor left to finish cooking and baking, respectively, while Loop came to talk to Yuri for a little.

“Kenjirou, I thought Yuuto was coming,” Viktor called from the kitchen. “Where is he?”

“He’s on his way!” There was a strain in his voice that Yuri didn't notice but was directed at Viktor as if to say ‘you know exactly where he is, so stop messing with me.’

“There’s just so many new kids.” Loop was telling Yuri about her job as an elementary school teacher. “With the new fertile land you helped with, we have so much more food now.” She laughed. “People are having more kids.”

“Hopefully in the future, we’ll be able to reinvigorate more wasteland.” Yuri smiled at her. “If we could fix the wasteland problem then maybe we could really rebuild.”

One of the six waste bombs from Sapóly didn’t hit a shield and instead landed in some unshielded fertile land. It hadn't turned much of The Capital’s Complex’s land to wasteland, but it had destroyed some of the farms. Yuri knew most of the reason he’d been accepted to Kaila was his work on The Capital’s shielding but it had helped than now The Capital had more interest in wasteland reinvigoration.

“Once we rebuild our country, maybe we can really talk to Sapóly, to The Others, instead of just fighting them.” He and Otabek had talked about that exact idea last time they chatted.

At the thought of Otabek, Yuri sighed. The two of them hadn’t seen each other in person since Yuri left Twiaght, though they called at least once a week. Kenjirou had seen him a handful of times while stopped in Kalen so Yuri knew he was doing okay but he missed him. After two years of physical separation and zero conversation about the night of The Others’ Attack, Yuri was starting to feel a little antsy.

Yuri couldn’t wait to call Otabek and tell his friend that he’d moving to Kaila once he graduated. He’d probably be moving there in August since that was the only caravan that would get him to the capital by September. He’d be leaving before the end of the year but the school had already given him permission to graduate in mid-June.

Even though August wasn’t really that long from now, it felt like a lifetime away. At least he’d be in The Capital Complex to celebrate Otabek’s next birthday.

There was a knock at the front door, which pulled Yuri out of his own mind as he wondered who it could be before he remembered that Yuuto was coming.

“Yuri, can you get that?” Kenjirou asked, suddenly seeming busy with something in the kitchen.

“Why me? It’s your fiancé!” Yuri grumbled even though he was heading towards the front door.

“It’s your house, you answer the door.” Kenjirou insisted.

“Fine, fine. I’ve got it.” Yuri swung the door open. “Hey, Yuuto, Kenjirou is in the–”

Yuri’s mouth fell open, his mind suddenly blank as he tried to understand what he was looking at. Yuuto was at the door, but he was standing off to the side with another figure to his right. Yuri found he couldn’t breathe until, finally, the other person grinned.

“Hey, Yura.”

“Beka!” The spell was broken and Yuri threw his arms around Otabek’s neck. “I can’t believe you’re here!”

“Happy birthday.” Otabek laughed a little when he realized Yuri was no long shorter than him. Two years had given the young man quite a few inches and now he seemed to tower over Otabek.

“When did you get here?” Yuri asked, pulling away from him even as his hands lingered on Otabek’s shoulders. Yuuto slipped by the scene to go stand in the other room with Kenjirou, who was positioned in just the right place to spy on his brother.

“Only today. I was able to get a ride with a caravan to Alolk and a ride with a protector the rest of the way. We just got in today.”

“I’m– umm–” Yuri was rarely lost for words but in this moment he’d found himself unable to form a single word.

“Happy birthday,” Otabek repeated, pulling a wrapped gift out of his pocket. “I wasn’t sure what to get you.”

“Thank you…” Yuri told the gift and looked down at Otabek, biting his lip unconsciously.

“Open it.”

Yuri nodded and did as he was told, finding that inside was a box. When he opened it, he found that inside there was an old looking watch.

“It was my mom’s. She and Mama had a matching set.” He held up his wrist to show Yuri the watch he was wearing. “I wanted you to have the other one.”

Yuri felt his eyes welling with tears. “This is the sweetest thing I’ve ever gotten, thank you.”

“You like it?”

“I love it.” Yuri smiled at Otabek then laughed a little before quietly adding. “It’s more than I could have asked for. You being here was enough of a gift.”

“Really?”

“Yah… I missed you.” Yuri smiled shyly before perking up. “I got into The Science Academy.”

“Really!” It was Otabek’s turn to be surprised. “I thought you would but… That's just– that’s great!”

“We’ll only be a half a day apart.”

“Yura?”

“Yah?”

“I have another gift for you?”

Yuri tilted his head to the side, “What is it?”

Otabek didn’t say anything, instead reaching up to kiss Yuri. For a moment, Yuri had no response but then he melted into the kiss, glad for it after worrying so long that Otabek had been angry about his kiss two years ago. It had been a heat of the moment choice after they hadn’t known each other very long so he hadn’t been too torn up when Otabek didn’t say anything about it but… well, it still hurt a little.

“It’s two years late but I wanted to make sure you got what you wanted.” Otabek gave him a cheeky smile before repeating for the third time. “Happy birthday, Yura.”

Over two years ago, Otabek had literally crashed his way into Yuri’s life and Yuri had done the same to Otabek, only in a figurative sense. Now, even though everything was different, nothing had really changed.

Yuri put the watch on with Otabek’s help then turned to lead Otabek by the hand into the living room, where he saw his family and friends were waiting. With a smile at the room, he gestured to Otabek.

“I want you guys to meet Otabek.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not crying, you're crying! But seriously, this was so much fun to write! I've had the idea for this for months and am just happy to finally get it together haha.
> 
> Next up will probably be my Viktuuri Big Bang fic and then after that, hopefully, the last real big fic of the Easier With You series (there'll still be more in the series, but it'll only be short stuff... probably). And then *prays a little* I should be able to start on the next series I'm planning which I love but... well it has to wait until Easier With You is done.


End file.
